Breaking Down Walls
by WIllsSonny
Summary: NEW STORY - A different take on Will and Sonny. When Sonny and Will renovate a house together, will friendship turn into something more? Please read description at the top of Chapter 1. Reviews and comments are always appreciated. Hope you enjoy! Cheers!
1. Chapter 1

**Sonny Kiriakis returns home to attend college. Having paid his way travelling around the world by working construction jobs, he jumps at the chance to renovate his Uncle Victors rental property in exchange for a place to live. Will Horton is a smart and hard working young man from a broken home. What some see as arrogance in Will is really a sense of independence and distrust cultivated from parents who never wanted a child. His own failed relationships of his those of his parents have left Will guarded and wary of others love. When Will agrees to help his new friend Sonny renovate his house, can he learn what real love is? Can Sonny heal Will and break down his walls?**

* * *

"But Sonny, you've been gone for four years and I've only had you home three days, are you sure it's not too soon?" Adrienne asked her son.

Sonny fussed with his hair in the bathroom mirror, pinching and twisting each strand, trying to get it just right. "It's right off of the town square, I won't be too far away." he reassured her.

"But why?" Adrienne questioned him. "There is plenty of room here; you can have your own wing if you want."

Sonny walked past his mom, back into the bedroom, "Mom, I'm home for good now, I need a place of my own."

Adrienne knew Sonny had made up his mind, "Fine, Cookie. If that's what you want."

"Mom, I'm 23, please don't call me that." He picked up the two shirts lying on the bed, examining them carefully then held them up to Adrienne, "Which one?"

"Where are you going again?"

"I'm meeting Abigail and some of her friends for drinks, someplace by Salem University."

"Casual, huh? The blue one then."

Sonny pulled the shirt over his head and walked back to the bathroom to check his hair again. He turned and kissed Adrienne on the cheek, "Thanks, Mom. Don't wait up." then grabbed his wallet and phone from the dresser and rushed out of the house.

Sonny stood at the entrance of the noisy bar searching over the mass of heads for his cousin, but could not find her among the large crowd. He pulled out his phone texted her, "_I'm here. Where are you_?" He looked around the bar again, waiting for her to respond. A little bit into the crowd in front of him he noticed a good looking blonde guy talking with a tableful of guys, chewing on the red straw from his drink. Sonny was staring a little hard and quickly averted his eyes when the guy looked over to him. "Shit, busted." he thought, smiling to himself as the phone is his hand buzzed. "_In the back, by the bar_." Abigail texted him back. Sonny looked up over the crowd again and saw Abigail standing above everyone waving at him. He navigated his way through the crowded tables toward the bar where Abigail and her friends were sitting, when he caught the deep blue eyes of the same blond guy staring him down. Sonny knew when he was being checked out, and blondie was definitely checking him out. He walked past the guy's table at a deliberate pace, just close enough to intentionally graze the side of the guy's arm with his hip, never letting his eyes stray from the other boy's gaze, and smiled coyly from the side of his mouth as he passed the blonde's table. Sonny felt the blue eyes at his back as he walked past, and turned quickly to catch him mid-stare; blonde guy smiled back a toothy grin, biting down on the red straw.

"Sonny!" Abigail screamed, jumping up and embracing him tightly. "I'm so glad you're home again, I missed you, Mr. World Traveler."

"I missed you too, Abs." he replied, picking her up and hugging her close.

"Sonny, these are my friends." Abigail started, "This is my boyfriend Chad."

Sonny shook his hand, "Nice to meet you, Chad."

"And these are the Lisa's…", she said pointing to the two dark haired girls, "…Lisa H. and Lisa B."

"Hi." Sonny said, shaking their hands.

Lisa B. held on to Sonny's hand a little too long, "Hi yourself." She said, blinking her eyes playfully.

"Take it easy, hot stuff." Abigail told her, "He's gay."

"Really?" Lisa B. asked, clearly disappointed.

"Guilty." Sonny admitted, shrugging. He ordered a drink from the waitress, rum and coke with lime and lots of ice, and sat down next to Abigail.

"So, Abigail tells me you just got back from Australia." Chad said.

"New Zealand, actually," he corrected, "I was in Australia about 3 months ago."

"Sonny's been all around the world." boasted Abigail.

"Not quite, Abi, but I have been a lot of places."

"Like where?" asked Chad.

"Um… Canada and Mexico, most of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, and…oh, and Bruges."

"Bruges?" Lisa H. questioned.

"It's in Belgium." Sonny told her.

"Wow," Lisa H. said "that's amazing. Where are you going next?"

"Well, I'll be home for a while because I'm going to get my degree, but I would still like to go to South America." Sonny took a sip of his drink through the red straw.

"You mean like Texas?" Lisa B. asked.

Sonny choked on his drink, coughing to catch his breath, "Uhm…" He looked to Abigail trying to figure out if Lisa B. was joking or if she seriously thought Texas was in South America.

"No, sweetie, not like Texas." Abigail rolled her eyes to Sonny, shaking her head at Lisa B. "So, Cousin, how do like living back at home with the parents?"she asked him.

"Well, luckily it's only a couple days." Sonny laughed, "I'm moving out tomorrow, actually. Uncle Vic has an old rental property just off the town square that's in pretty rough shape. I told him if he let me live there while I'm going to school that I would fix it up for him. Uncle Vic's going to pay for the materials and I'll do the work."

"You know how to do that?" Chad asked him, "House repair and stuff?"

"Yeah, that's how I paid my way travelling, working odd construction jobs wherever I was."

Lisa B. reached over and rubbed Sonny's forearm with her fingertips, "Construction, huh? That's sexy." she said flirtatiously.

"Sorry, still gay." Sonny teased her.

"God, Abigail, what are all your hot cousins gay?" she whined.

Sonny looked at Abigail quizzically, "All your cousins?"

"My cousin Will is gay too."

"You should totally hook them up, Abi!" Lisa B. cried excitedly. "I would so watch that." She winked at Sonny and bit her lip, suggestively.

"No, no… no." Abigail protested. "Will is not Sonny's type."

"How do you know my type?" Sonny mocked.

"I just mean, you're grounded and together. You're a relationship guy… and Will. Well, Will's not. Will is…"

"A slut." Chad interjected, eliciting a laugh from Sonny.

"Chad!" Abigail slapped his shoulder. "He's not a slut, Sonny; he just likes to have fun, he doesn't want to be tied down. Will's a really great guy."

"And way hot." Lisa B. added.

Abigail continued, "… he just doesn't do relationships well, he can be a bit… guarded. And believe me, if you met his parents you'd know why. Will's only had one serious boyfriend since I can remember; it didn't last long and ended badly."

"What happened?" Sonny inquired.

"I'm not sure. He doesn't really talk about it."

"Will isn't a big sharer." Chad told him, "But you guys do have something in common, he worked construction with his uncle for a few summers."

"Well, it doesn't really matter anyway; I'm not in the market for guys right now. I need to focus on school and fixing up the house." Sonny waved the waitress down to order another drink, "This round's on me." he said. They ordered their drinks and as the waitress left Sonny noticed the blue eyed blond guy from before was smiling wide at him and heading over.

* * *

"Will, over here!" T called out, when he saw Will enter the bar.

Will nodded to T and headed over to the table, greeting T and his two friends with bro hugs. He sat down in the seat facing the entrance, and they all ordered drinks from the waitress.

"So, are you ready for the semester to start?" T asked Will.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm not crazy about my classes this term, except for the American Architecture class." Will replied, leaning back in his chair as the waitress came back.

She set T and the other guy's drinks down on the table; then smiled at Will, "Here you are cutie, rum and coke with lime and lots of ice." She placed a napkin on the table with her phone number on it and put Will's drink down. "I get off at 11…" she leaned down and whispered in Will's ear, "…and so can you."

Will smiled politely as she walked away then picked up the napkin and handed it to T. "Here you go, maybe she won't notice your ugly face." Will teased him, laughing. He took a swig from his drink and sat it back on the table, pulling the red straw out and placing it between his teeth.

T folded the napkin and put it in his pocket. "Dude, it is such a waste that you're gay. She is so hot!"

"How could it be a waste that Will is gay?" a patronizing voice called from over Will's shoulder. "He's so good at it."

Will felt the familiar hands of his ex on his shoulder; causing him to cringe. Spite filled in his blood and his fists clenched without thinking. He turned and came face to face with Cole Connors in all his conceited glory. "What the hell do you want, Cole?" he asked, crossly.

"Well, I've thought about it and I decided to give you a second chance." Cole said.

"Hah!" T blurt out, "Didn't Will dump you, you dick? Get over yourself."

"It's okay T. I've got this." Will put hand up to calm T down. "Cole, what makes you think I want to get back with you?" The memory of him discovering that Cole was cheating on him during their entire relationship was playing on a loop in Will's head and his hostility grew with every second that Cole stood in front of him.

"Come on, Will, we were good together remember? You know you want to be with me again."

"No thanks." Will replied coldly, turning his face from Cole and downing the rest of his drink, trying to suppress the rage coming to the surface.

Cole put his arm around Will and whispered menacingly in his ear. "Come on, Babe; just let me at your ass one more time." Will fumed inside as Cole went on; the spark of anger in his belly was now burning. "You know you want it Will, I remember the noises you used to make when my cock was in you." Cole's spiteful breath on his ear sent Will over the edge and he burst up from his seat, shoving Cole forcefully into the next table. He lunged after Cole again, only to be stopped in his tracks by T.

T immediately jumped between Will and Cole, pulling Will away. "Easy, bud. He's not worth it." T shook Will from his rage, "Come on, man, relax." He sat Will back down on the stool and directed his attention to Cole. "Why don't you just bail, Cole? Seriously, this is just going to get ugly."

Cole spoke to Will again, talking over T's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Will. I didn't mean to piss you off." he condescended, "What's it going to take to convince you I'm serious when I say I want to get back together, huh? Some big romantic gesture?"

"Cole, just fuck off okay?" T pushed him along, forcing him away.

"Fine, I'll leave, but I'm not done, Will." Cole called to him as he walked off.

Will seethed at the table as T sat back down. "You alright?" T asked, "What did he whisper to you?"

"Don't worry about it," Will said dismissively, "He was just being a prick. It's nothing new." Will waved the waitress down and ordered another drink.

"Seriously though, Will, I never realized how much of jerk that guy is. Is that why you broke it off?"

"Yeah, among other things." Will told him. The memory of him walking in on Cole getting head from another guy in the bathroom of the same bar he was now sitting in, came crashing back. "Can we just drop it?"

"Sure, bud. What do want to do? You want to leave?" T asked.

"No, I'm good." Will took a sip of his drink, and put the red straw between his teeth. "I just need a distraction." He said, staring toward the entrance of the bar and smiling as something, or someone, caught his eye.

T noticed Will's smile and turned his head to see what Will was looking at. He watched as the dark haired guy in a tight blue shirt smiled back at Will, heading toward the table, never taking his eyes off Will as he passed and casually rubbed his hip against Will's arm.

Will kept his gaze on the dark brown eyes of his prey in the blue shirt as he passed, turning to admire the back of him when he walked by. Blue shirt turned again to catch Will staring and flashed a toothy flirtatious smile at him; Will returned the gesture, biting down suggestively on the red straw.

"Will?" T called to him, trying to get his attention.

Will spun around back to the table and grinned at T, motioning toward the guy in the blue shirt. "He'll do."

"A distraction, huh? Is that what gay guys call it?" T teased him. "Holy crap, it that your cousin Abigail he's with?"

Will turned and watched as the guy greeted Abigail with a hug, "Oh, man. This is going to be way too easy."

* * *

Abigail watched Sonny's eyes wander across the room and saw a smile cover his face as the waitress left. "What are you looking at?"

"It's nothing." Sonny replied, keeping his eyes on the approaching blond.

"Liar, tell me." Abigail smiled at him.

"Okay, but don't turn around." Sonny instructed, "I was flirting with this cute guy when I came in and now he's heading over here." She turned her head to look as soon as Sonny finished. "Real subtle, Abs." Sonny said sarcastically, as Abigail turned back to him.

"Oh my god, Sonny, you can't. Do you hear me?" Abigail said sternly.

"What? Why?" Sonny asked.

"Hey, Abi." Will called out, coming up behind her.

"Will!" Abigail got up from the table to greet him, "What are you doing here?" she questioned, giving him a hug.

"Having drinks with T" Will told her, hugging her back and keeping his eyes fixed to Sonny over her shoulder, "Who's your friend?"

Abigail sighed heavily, "Will, this is So…"

"Will Horton!" Cole's voice called out, echoing over the bar noise through the loudspeakers, interrupting Abigail's introduction. "Where is Will Horton? There he is over there, can you put the light on him?"

Suddenly Will was illuminated by a spotlight as he turned around to the see Cole standing on the small stage in the corner with a microphone in his hand.

"Make some room." Cole instructed, stepping down off the stage. Everyone between Cole and Will took a step back, creating a path on the bar floor between the two. The music stopped and the entire bar hushed as Cole started walking slowly toward Will. "Will Horton, I know I don't deserve a second chance, but I want to be with you. I'm so sorry I messed up, you deserve better. But I've changed, I promise. My love for you has made me a better man." A collective "Awe" came over the crowd as Cole reached Will.

Sonny stood there with Abigail, watching in amazement as the scene in front of him unfolded. He couldn't help but think thought how romantic it was, and found himself a little bit jealous of such a declaration of love. He looked over to see the expression on Will's face and was surprised that Will did not seem to share Sonny's feelings. Will's body was tense and rigid, arms folded obstinately and his cheeks were tinged with embarrassment.

Will could taste the bile in the back of his throat as Cole came to a stop in front of him. His whole body pulsed with anger and resentment, growing greater with each lie that Cole spit out. Cole might have the rest of them convinced of his sincerity, but Will knew the truth, this was just another manipulation, another lie of many.

Will and Cole stood in the middle of the bar, with the spotlight shining down on them. "Will, I'm so sorry. I love you, please take me back." Cole finished. Will forced a half-hearted smile across his lips as Cole leaned in and hugged him, whispering arrogantly in Will's ear, "I told you I wasn't done." Cole stood back and smiled at Will as if he had just won some sort of game.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" the crowd chanted.

Cole cocked his head smugly, "Well?" He asked Will, "Should we give them what they want?"

Will forced another smile at him, clenching his fists. Cole leaned forward and closed his eyes, waiting for his kiss. Will grit his teeth together and lunged forward, head butting Cole forcefully, and causing him to stumble back.

"OOOHHHH!" rang out through the crowd.

Cole grabbed his head, opening his eyes to Will. "What the fuck, Will?"

Will swung again, this time catching Cole on the chin with a hard right hook, sending him crashing to the ground. Rage flowed through Will's veins and he could see or hear nothing but Cole. He wanted Cole to feel the pain he felt, but not the emotional pain of finding out you're being cheated on, but physical pain. He wanted to hurt Cole. Will flung himself at Cole again, only to be stopped by T, pulling Will away.

T grabbed Will, pulling him off of Cole. "Come on, man. Time to go." T tried pushing Will toward the exit. Will shoved T aside and charged at Cole again, connecting with glancing blow to the side of Cole's head. T grabbed Will again, pulling him back as Will struggled to get free and attack Cole again.

"Will!" Abigail screamed at the top of her lungs, finally breaking Will's trance.

Will shook his head from his stupor and saw the look of fear on Abigail's face. He looked down on the ground to Cole holding his jaw, blood dripping down his face from a gash on his forehead above his eye. "What happened?" he asked T, confusingly.

"We need to leave. Now." T told him, motioning to the bouncers heading their way.

"Okay." Will said to him, turning to Abigail. "Sorry, Abs." he said regretfully.

Will turned to leave and once again caught the brown eyes of Abigail's friend staring at him with a shocked look on his face. Will met his gaze momentarily then turned his head in shame and left the bar with T.

Sonny watched Will leave, trying to absorb what had just happened. What would make Will attack that guy like that? Was this the ex-boyfriend Abigail talked about? He didn't know Will at all, but he saw something in the last look will gave him. Regret, pain and longing… innocence maybe. He walked over to Abigail being consoled by Chad. "Are you okay, Abs?

"Yeah, I'm fine." she reassured him.

Sonny looked to Cole lying on the ground being attended to by the bouncers, then again to the door where Will just left. "So, that's Will, huh?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N – Here's the second chapter. The next one won't be posted as quick; I had time to write this weekend. Thanks for the great reception to this story so far, I think it's going to be a fun ride. Cheers!**

* * *

Sonny was walking through the town square with both hands full of bags carrying painting supplies. He stopped to readjust one of the bags to keep it from falling when a kid on a skateboard rolled past him too close, knocking the bag and all its contents to the ground. "Thanks, Jackass!" Sonny called after the kid, receiving a middle finger for his efforts. "little fucker..." he mumbled to himself, kneeling down to pick everything up.

"You need some help, cuz?"

Sonny looked up to see Abigail standing above him holding a roll of blue tape in her hand. "Thanks." he replied, standing up to greet her with a hug. "What's up, Abs?"

Abigail picked up two of the bags to help Sonny. "Nothing really, I'm going to meet Chad for a movie." She placed the handles of the two bags carefully in Sonny's hand, "What's up with you? How's the house coming?"

"It's been less than a week, so nothing is done yet. I just grabbed some supplies and some sample books to figure out what color to paint it." He told her. "But hey, I never thanked you for inviting me out the other night, I had a good time. I like your friends."

"You mean you had a good time until the fight broke out, right?"

"Well, I have to admit, that was unexpected, but I still had a good time." Sonny said. "So was that guy Will's ex? The one he punched?"

"Yep, that was Cole alright."

"How is Will? Have you spoken with him?"

"Sonny…" Abigail said with an accusing tone.

"What? I'm just asking?"

"I thought you said you weren't in the market for guys." She reminded him.

"I'm not." he reassured her. "He's your cousin; you said he is a great guy, I was just asking if he was okay, that's all."

"Okay, well… I believe you." She said sarcastically. "Anyway, he's fine. I talked to him yesterday."

"You did? Did he say anything? Did he ask about me?"

"Seriously, Sonny? You don't even know him." Abigail chuckled at her cousin acting like a school boy with a crush.

"Come on, Abs, just cut me some slack, he's cute."

Abigail crossed her arms in concern. "He asked me what your name was."

"And?" Sonny asked.

"And I told him you're name was Sonny, that's it."

"Did you give him my number?"

"No. I told you, he's not your type."

"I just want to talk to him, Abs. Where's the harm in that?"

Abigail sighed at Sonny, hitching her purse up on her shoulder. "I have to go, Sonny. I'll see you later."

"Fine." He was resigned to the fact that Abigail would not budge. "Take care, Abs. Talk to you soon." he said, giving her a kiss goodbye, and started heading back to the house.

Abigail watched as Sonny walked away somewhat dejected. "Sonny, wait." She called after him, knowing full well she would regret this, as Sonny turned back to look at her. "You look hungry. You should stop by the Brady Pub and get something to eat."

"The Pub?" Sonny asked, smiling.

"Yeah, the Pub." She replied, "But don't say that I didn't warn you."

* * *

"To go order is ready, Will." the cook called out.

"Thanks" Will picked the boxes up off the window, placed them in a bag and set it on the bar, picking up the ticket to write the customer's name on the bag, _Kiriakis._ He glanced up at the door when the chime went off and saw Sonny pushing the door open with his hip, his hands full of bags. He turned his back to the counter and fiddled with the glasses, smiling to himself when heard the bags being set down and Sonny taking a seat at the bar.

Sonny sat down on a stool and placed the bags on the bar next to him, taking in the sight of Will's defined shoulders through his tight white shirt. "Hey, can I get a menu?"

Will smiled again at the sound of Sonny's voice. "Sexy." He thought to himself, suppressing his grin; time to have a little fun. He turned around and nonchalantly handed Sonny a menu. "Here you go. Welcome to Brady Pub, can I get you a drink?" Will half heartedly offered Sonny a courteous smile.

"Hey!" Sonny greeted him excitedly and expected a different reaction after Abigail told him Will had asked her his name.

"Hi?" Will replied dragging out the word, feigning confusion. "Would you like a drink?"

Sonny was baffled that Will didn't recognize him. "Um, yeah… diet coke, please."

"Coming right up." Will turned his back to Sonny to pour his soda, smirking again to himself.

Sonny racked his brain to why Will didn't recognize him; he had just asked Abigail about him yesterday. "You're Will, right? Will Horton?" Sonny asked him as Will turned back to hand him his soda.

"That's me." Will replied blankly. "Do you know what you would like, or do you need another minute?" Will put the point of his pen on the pad with a snarky look on his face; waiting for Sonny to order.

"Will, it's me, Sonny..." He informed him, "…from the other night? at the bar?"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"You flirted with me the other night when I walked by your table. I was sitting with Abigail. Remember?"

Will thought to himself that of course he remembered him, tight blue shirt that clung to his broad chest, bright white smile and thick dark hair that was tailor made for grabbing and pulling during sex. "Sorry, I flirt with a lot of guys that sit with Abi. You'll have to be more specific." He told him, unable to suppress a small grin.

"Oh. Okay, I see." Sonny nodded and smirked at Will, finally in on the game he was playing. "And here I thought I was a memorable kind of guy."

"Guess not." Will bit his lip and grinned at him. "But if I did remember some cute guy from the other night, I'm pretty sure he was flirting with me, not the other way around."

"Really?"

"Yep." Will nodded.

"But you don't remember?"

"Nope."

"I have to be more specific, do I?"

"Yes, you do."

"Okay, then." Sonny returned Will's playful grin, "_You_ flirted with _me _the other night, right before you punched some guy out cold in the middle of the bar."

Will smiled wide at Sonny and chuckled. "Sorry, you'll have to be more specific. I punch out a lot of guys."

"Okay, alright, you win." Sonny conceded, handing him back the menu. "I'll have the turkey club, the unmemorable turkey club." He pouted.

"Good choice." Will flashed him a victory grin as the pub phone rang. "I'll put your order in, don't go anywhere." He picked up the phone, "Brady Pub, Will speaking."

Sonny shook his head at their exchange, staring at the back of Will while he was taking a call in order. He reached for his soda and glanced at the bag of food on the counter waiting to be picked up, "Kiriakis" he read on the bag. "Hmm, that's weird. I wonder who…"

"Sonny?" he heard from behind him, turning around to see his mom. "Hi mom, what are you doing here?" Sonny stood up and gave his mother a hello hug.

"I'm picking up lunch for your father and myself." She said, "What are you doing here?"

"Same thing, lunch." Sonny sat back down on the stool.

"How's the new place coming along." Adrienne asked him.

"Still in the planning stages, once I figure out what I want to do, then I'll start the remodeling."

Will hung up the phone in time to hear the end of Sonny and Adrienne's conversation. "Can I help you?" he asked Adrienne.

"I'm picking up an order for Kiriakis."

"Sure thing, it's right here. That will be $17.50" Will told her, handing her the bag of food.

Adrienne gave him a $20 bill, "Keep the change." She said politely. Taking the food from Will she turned and gave Sonny a kiss on the cheek. "Bye, Cookie, don't be a stranger."

Sonny hung his head in embarrassment, hoping to god that Will didn't hear his mother's last comment. "Bye, Mom."

"Order up." The cook called out.

Will picked the turkey club up from the window and set in down in front of Sonny. "Here you go; one unmemorable turkey club."

"Oh, come on." Sonny said in mock exasperation. "Can't we just play nice?"

"Okay, your right. I'm sorry." Will said, genuinely apologetic this time and offered his hand to Sonny, "Let's do this right. Hi, Will Horton, nice to meet you."

Sonny shook his hand "Sonny Kiriakis, good to meet you too, Will."

Will leaned on the bar, next to Sonny as he took a bite of his sandwich. "So, Cookie, how do you know Abi?"

He swallowed his mouthful of sandwich, shaking his head at Will. "So you heard that, huh?"

"Heard what, Cookie?" Will smiled innocently, stealing a potato chip from Sonny's plate.

"Abs is my cousin." Sonny said, playfully sliding his food out if Will's reach.

"Wait… we're related?"

"No, genius, I'm on the other side of her family. Do you really think I would flirt with my own cousin?"

"So you admit that you were flirting." Will gave him another brash smile.

"You know, Will. If you weren't so cute your cockiness would be annoying." Sonny grinned and took another bite of his sandwich.

"You think I'm cute?"

He furrowed his brow and cocked his head at Will, flashing him a knowing grin through mouthful of food.

They stared at each other silently for a minute, each of them trying to figure the other out. Will broke the silence, "So, what's all this then? Are you painting something?" He picked up one of the paint sample folders and started flipping thought it.

"My house, but I'm still in the planning stages. I haven't even picked colors."

"What kind of flooring?"

"Huh?"

"The flooring?" Will asked. "The color you paint the walls depends on what type and color of flooring."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that. I don't know."

Will looked at him with a puzzled expression, "You don't know what kind of floors you have?"

"No, what I mean is…" Sonny explained. "You see, it's an old house. Right now the floor is the original wood, but it's in rough shape. I'm not sure if I want to refinish it or replace it."

'What kind of wood?"

"Oak."

"Definitely refinish it, if it's salvageable." Will suggested with enthusiasm. "You own a house?"

"No, it's not mine. My uncle has a rental property off of the town square, he's letting me live there in exchange for me fixing it up."

"In the historic district?"

"Yeah."

"I love that neighborhood. Which house?"

"It's on 5th and Leland." Sonny told him, he couldn't help but feel a little flattered by Will's enthusiasm.

"Are you talking about that pale green, New England cottage?"

"Yeah, that's it. You know the house?"

"I do, the front porch has those great hand carved finials, but you definitely need to repaint that green, it's disgusting."

"Any suggestions?"

"For the exterior? Absolutely." Will searched through the paint sample folders until he found the right one. "Here, look." He opened the folder to the blues, pointing out a selection of lighter, smoky blue colors. "You need to paint it one of these, like something you would see on the shore in Cape Cod. A cool beach-like blue with white trim would look really good." Will eagerly pointed out the colors to Sonny.

"Have you been to Cape Cod?" Sonny asked.

"No, I've never been anywhere." Will replied flipping through the paint samples, outwardly unaware he was even talking aloud. "Oh, and if you're going to replace the roof, which I assume you are, you should put a metal roof on instead of shingle or tile."

Sonny noticed the change in Will's demeanor as he talked about the house, the cockiness from before seemingly faded away. "Any ideas for the interior?"

"I'd have to see it, I guess."

"Well, you can come by if you want to take a look around."

"Really?" he asked eagerly.

"Sure, anytime."

They stared and smiled at each other again in awkward silence, both trying to decipher what Sonny's invitation really meant when Will's cell phone rang. Will pulled his phone from his pocket, glancing at the screen and his expression changed instantly. "I need to get this." He said with an aggravated sigh.

"Sure." Sonny replied. He watched Will move to the back corner of the bar and whisper harshly into his phone. He knew he shouldn't but he moved a little closer to listen to Will's conversation. "Hello?….I get off at six, why?...I don't see how that's my problem….Jesus Christ, you can't leave him by himself. What's the matter with you?….I guess I don't have a choice do I?...Fine."

Will hung up the phone and stared at in his hand before turning back to Sonny, making an accusatory face at Sonny's new closer position. "Sorry, I need to get back to work." He said coldly.

"Um, that's okay; I need to get back anyway." Sonny replied uncomfortably, "Can I get the check for the sandwich?"

"Don't worry about it, it's on the house." Will turned his back to Sonny, wiping down glasses on the other side of the bar.

"You sure?" Sonny asked. Will didn't answer. "Okay, I guess I'll see you around?"

"It's a small town, were bound run into each other." He said blankly.

Sonny picked his bags up from the bar and walked out, equally as confused as the first night he saw Will.

* * *

Later that night, Sonny was relaxing in his black boxers on the mattress lying directly on the floor of his new bedroom. Unpacked boxes filled the corner of the room, tile and wood flooring samples piled by the door. A small light on the floor next to the mattress cast a glow over him, revealing the series of small flag tattoos running down the side of his bare torso. He was flipping through the textbook for his upcoming American Architecture class when the phone rang.

"Hello? Hey Abs, What's up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to call and apologize for earlier today, I felt bad. You're free to date whoever you want and it's none of my business."

"You don't need to apologize, I wasn't mad. I know you're just looking out for me."

"So, did you go to the pub? Did you talk to Will?"

"I did, yeah, and it was…" Sonny tried to describe his encounter with Will earlier, "I really don't know what it was, to tell the truth."

"What do you mean? It didn't go well?"

"It went fine at first. We were teasing and flirting with each other, then we had a great conversation about the house and he seemed really into me."

"Well, that sounds like it went good. Then what happened?"

"I invited him over to see the house and we sort of had a moment. We kind of stared and smiled at each other and I got this, you know… vibe that something was happening…. and then his phone rang."

"Who was it?" Abigail asked.

"I have no idea. He walked away and had this really intense, hushed conversation, then it was like he was a different person. He was really cold and dismissive, and I just… left. I went home." Sonny did not want to admit to Abigail that he eavesdropped on Will's phone call.

"Gee, Sonny, I'm sorry. That sounds really awkward."

"It was, and I'm not quite sure what it means. I guess I should've just listened to you."

"Well, I don't want to say I warned you…"

"Yes you do." He teased her.

"Okay, I do." Abigail conceded, "But I won't. Anyway, listen, were all going out again tomorrow night, you should come."

"I don't know, Abs…"

"Come on, Sonny, it will be fun. It'll take your mind off Will."

"Alright, it does sound fun and I like your friends. Text me the address and what time, okay? I'll see you tomorrow."

"Great! Night Sonny, see you tomorrow."

"Night, Abs." Sonny hung up the phone, turned his light out, and went to sleep.

* * *

Abigail hung her phone up and set it on her nightstand. She turned on her side and propped her head on her hand, looking over the side of her bed. "Okay, he's coming. But I don't like lying to him."

Will lay in a sleeping bag on the floor next to Abigail's bed. "Thank you, Abi. I'm sorry I made you lie."

"Are you going to tell me what the phone call was about?"

"It was just typical family drama, Sami being a crappy mom and me having to pick up the pieces."

"Is Johnny okay?" she asked?

"He's fine, I took him to his dad's." Will reassured her. "Sami does this all the time though, it really pisses me off. She decides to go out and get high with whatever guy is punching her timecard this week, and I have to take care of Johnny." Will sighed and put his arms behind his head. "Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with Johnny, but he's my brother not my son."

"Why didn't you just tell Sonny what was going on, Will?"

"I don't need the whole world knowing my business, Abi." Will snapped.

"What are you doing with Sonny, Will? Are you into him or not?"

"I don't know. He's really cute, and he seems nice. I don't know what I want, but I felt bad for being a dick to him today."

"Well, do me a favor and just leave him alone. He deserves better than you." Abigail told him.

"Wow, that was harsh." Will replied.

"I'm sorry, Will. You know I love you, but Sonny's a special guy. He can't just be another notch on your belt, understand?"

"I understand." Will felt a little hurt at the perception people had of him. "There aren't as many notches as people think, Abs."

"Still, don't hurt him. That's all I'm asking."

"I'll try, I promise." He said. "Are you sure you don't mid me sleeping here tonight? I didn't want to go home."

"You know you're always welcome here, Will."

"Thanks. Do you mind if I keep this light on? I want to work on something." Will asked.

"No, it's fine. Night Will."

"Night, Abs." Will pulled his drawing book and pencils from his backpack, and began sketching designs for Sonny's house under the soft light from Abigail's nightstand.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N – Thanks for all the great comments so far, keep 'em coming. This is going to get messy, but WilSon is coming, I promise. Oh, and I apologize in advance to Sami fans. Cheers!**

* * *

Will returned home early the next morning to change for his shift at the pub. He unlocked the door to the apartment and opened it, turning his head and wincing as the smell of stale beer and smoke hit his nose. Sami lay on the couch asleep with the remains of a cigarette hanging from her hand, her dirty blond hair matted to her head. He set his backpack on the kitchen counter and poured himself a bowl of cereal, opening the refrigerator to discover an empty carton of milk. "Damn it, I just bought this." He grabbed the empty carton from the fridge and walked over to the couch, shaking the cushion next to Sami's head with his foot to wake her up. "What happened to all the milk?"

"What?" Sami replied groggily, rubbing the sleep from her mascara smeared eyes.

"The milk?" Will shoved the empty carton in front of her face. "I bought this yesterday."

"Um...we uh…" Sami sat up on the couch, looking around confusingly, trying to adjust to her surroundings. "...we um… have you seen my cigarettes?"

"Hey, focus!" Will snapped his fingers angrily in Sami's face. "The milk?"

"We made White Russians last night, must have finished it, sorry." Sami reached in between the couch cushion and pulled out a partially crushed carton of cigarettes.

"Jesus, Sami, I bought this for Johnny and me, not for you and your friends to get drunk." Will tossed the carton into the overflowing trash.

"We needed milk, what was I supposed to do?"

Will ignored her asinine question, looking around at the mess of bottles, cigarette butts and scattered food cartons next to the broken bong on the coffee table. "Are you going to clean this up, or do I have to do that too?

"I'll clean it up." She mumbled, lighting a cigarette.

Will snatched the cigarette from her mouth and doused it in the remains of a White Russian in a glass on the table. "Not inside, how many fucking times do I have to tell you."

"I'm you mother, you can't tell me what I can do!" she snapped at him.

"I pay the rent, my rules." Will told her. He picked up his backpack and headed to the room he shared with Johnny. "I'm going to take a shower and go to work, clean this place up before EJ brings Johnny home in the morning."

"Hey, I pay rent too, kid."

"Screwing the landlord is not paying rent, Sami."

"Fuck you, Will!" She screamed after him as he slammed his door shut.

Will dropped the backpack on the neatly made bed. The room was in stark contrast to the rest of the apartment, neat and orderly, impeccably clean and everything in its place. He pulled out his sketch pad and flipped through the drawings he did last night, wondering if Sonny would like his ideas. He tried to suppress the excitement building in him of seeing Sonny later that night. "What are you doing?" he asked himself. "Why do you care so much about what he thinks? You don't even know him." He undressed and walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower. He leaned on the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror, "If you don't get attached, you don't get hurt. If you don't get attached, you don't get hurt." He repeated over and over as the mirror fogged with steam from the shower.

* * *

Sonny stood outside the bar staring up at the blinking neon horse and cowboy over the entrance. He watched as person after person stepped into the bar dressed in western shirts, jeans and boots. He glanced down at his Cubs t-shirt, cargo shorts and Converse sneakers and shook his head. He noticed Abigail and Lisa B. standing around a table in the back corner as soon as the he entered the bar, and made his way through the crowd of temporary cowboys and cowgirls to the table. The girls giggled and pointed at him when they noticed him approaching. "Nobody told me it was a country bar." he complained to them.

"I texted you we were going to "The County Line Saloon", what did you think it was?" Abigail asked chuckling.

"I'm an idiot, what can I say?" He joked, hugging her hello. He greeted Lisa B. and noticed that there was an extra drink on the table. "Did you already order me a drink?"

"No, not exactly." Abigail replied.

"It's Will's." Lisa B. said, smirking at Sonny playfully. "You remember Will don't you, Sonny?"

Sonny sneered at Abigail, "Will's here? Why didn't you tell me he was coming?"

"I'm sorry, Sonny, but…" Abigail started.

"Don't be mad at her, it was Will's idea not to tell you." Lisa B. cut in.

"Lisa!" Abigail grumbled.

"Will wanted to see you because he was mean to you at the pub." Lisa B. jumped in again.

Abigail glared at Lisa B., "I want that to be the last thing you say."

Lisa B. locked her lips with then tucked the imaginary key down in her cleavage, smiling innocently.

"What is she talking about, Abs?" Sonny asked, just as Will returned from the restroom.

"Hey, Cookie's here!" Will called out, "Hi, Cookie." He teased Sonny, winking at him.

Sonny let out a quick but soft grunt as he caught sight of Will. As if in slow motion, he took mental images of the red and silver plaid shirt wrapped around Will's tight chest, the buttons intentionally fastened to expose the delicate layer of blond chest hair beneath. His worn jeans clung to him perfectly in all the right places, and then the cowboy hat… dear god, the cowboy hat. Sonny felt the front of his shorts tighten and finally realized he was being asked a question. "I'm sorry, what?"

"A drink? Can I get you a drink?" the waitress asked from behind him.

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't hear you. Rum and Coke, lime, lots of ice." he told her.

"You got it. Did you need another one while I get his?" she asked Will.

"I'm good, thanks." Will said, as he took a sip from his drink and nodded to Sonny. Sonny grinned back at him and the two shared another silent moment, trying again to figure the other out.

Abigail and Lisa watched the two of them staring at each other, suddenly unaware of the girl's presence then Will shot a clever look at Abigail. Abigail returned the look knowingly, "Hey, Lisa. Didn't you say you wanted to dance?" she said.

"I did?"

"Yes, you did, remember?" Abigail nodded her head, motioning to Will.

"I wanted to dance with Will?" Lisa asked, confused.

"Jesus." Will mumbled in exasperation at Lisa's dimness.

Sonny grinned at the three of them, "Lisa, Will wants you to go dance with Abigail so he can talk to me alone." He turned to Abigail, "Right?"

"Ohhh, _dance_. Yeah, I forgot I wanted to _dance." _Lisa smiled at them. Abigail grabbed her hand a pulled her to the dance floor. "Bye, guys. We're going to go _dance_." Lisa winked at them as she was drug away.

Will shook his head and rolled his eyes at Sonny. "Sorry about that, Lisa doesn't really understand subtlety."

"Don't worry about it." Sonny said, leaning back as the waitress returned with his drink. "But why all the sneakiness to get me here, I would have come if you just asked." Sonny paid the waitress and took a sip from his drink.

"I wasn't sure, you know, because of yesterday after our talk."

"Yeah, that was kind of weird; I thought we were hitting it off. Was it that phone call?" Sonny asked, "Or did I say something wrong? Because if I did, I'm sorry."

"No, it wasn't you. It wasn't anything you said or did." Will reassured him, "It was… well it doesn't matter what it was. I just wanted to say I was sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that. Are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good." Sonny flashed him a smile.

"Good, I'm glad. So, any new developments on the house or are you still in the planning stages?"

"Still planning, I have to plan everything I do in advance, that's just how I am. " Sonny told him, "I have this whole picture in my head of how I want it to look, but I don't where to start or how to put it on paper, so to speak." Sonny gazed at Will as he spoke thinking of how Will had been on his mind since he first saw him in the bar last week. He tried to convince himself he didn't have time for guys right now with school coming up soon but he could not fight his attraction any longer. "Here goes nothing." He thought to himself as Will started to speak.

"Maybe I can help with that, see I drew these sketches…" Will grabbed his backpack to show Sonny the sketches of the exterior he drew, when Sonny interrupted him.

"Do you want to go out sometime?" Sonny clumsily blurt out.

"What?" Will responded, stunned.

"Do you want to go out sometime? You know, for dinner or drinks or something?"

"But, we're having drinks right now." Will slid the sketch book back into his backpack. "Isn't that good?"

"It is, and I'm having a nice time, but I'm talking about just you me, like a date."

"Jeez, Sonny… Um…" Will was hoping this wouldn't happen; he didn't want to hurt Sonny's feelings.

He saw Will's expression drop and knew what was coming, he tried to salvage his pride as the embarrassment started to sink in. "You know what, forget I said anything. I can see from your face that I misread the situation, I'm sorry. I thought we had a connection there for a second, or whatever, but I guess I was wrong."

"No, Sonny, you weren't wrong. I just…"

"I get it, Will, you're not into me. It's okay." Sonny cut him off.

"Would you let me finish?" Will asked.

"Sorry, go ahead."

"And stop apologizing; you have nothing to be sorry for. Look, you weren't wrong. I mean, I am into you; it's just that, I don't really… I don't date."

"What do you mean you don't date?"

"I don't date. I'm not a relationship guy, they get too complicated."

"Complicated? I'm talking about dinner, Will, maybe a movie or bowling, not a fucking commitment ceremony." Sonny shot back at him, crossly, standing up from his chair.

"Why are you getting mad?" Will asked.

"I'm not mad, I just don't understand. You just said you liked me."

"I do, Sonny, and I want to get to know you better, but why does it have to be a 'date'? Can't we just have fun and hang out, why do we have to define it?"

"Because, Will, I don't want to just hang out. I'm into you. I'm attracted to you. I mean… Jesus, that fucking cowboy hat is making me want to fuck you in the bathroom." Sonny stopped and calmed himself. "That has to mean something, Will."

"No it doesn't Sonny." Will replied eagerly, standing up from his chair to meet Sonny's eyes from the other side of the table. "I'm attracted to you, too. You want to fuck in the bathroom? Let's go! You don't have to plan everything, Sonny. Just do what you want."

Sonny stood there unmoved, staring dejectedly into Will's waiting eyes. "I'm sorry, Will. It's just not me." They exchanged one last look, an unspoken apology of what might have been, when Abigail returned to the table.

"Sorry, I got thirsty, It's hot out there." She took a sip from her drink and noticed the tension between the two as they stared at each other. "Is everything okay?" she asked, looking to each of them.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Sonny said blankly, breaking away from Will's gaze. "I've got to go."

"You're leaving?" Abigail asked, "You just got here."

"I know. Sorry, Abs, I'll talk to you later."

"Sonny, come on." Will pleaded.

"Take it easy, Will." He muttered. And with that, Sonny turned and left.

They watched Sonny leave then Abigail turned and glared at Will. "What did you do?"

Will took his hat off and set it on the table, rubbing his hands through his hair in aggravation. "I fucked up, Abi. What do you want me say? I fucked up. That's not how I wanted that to go."

"How did you want it to go, Will?" she asked accusingly.

"I don't know. Just… not like that." Will sighed and stared at the door. "I got to go." He put the hat back on his head, grabbed his backpack and rushed out of the bar.

"Just leave him alone, Will!" she shouted after him.

* * *

Sonny shoved the door open in frustration, tossing his keys in the bowl on the table in the foyer. He stopped and stared at the bowl, the bowl that was meant for his keys, and just his keys. He looked around his living room, still filled with unpacked boxes, flooring samples and fabric samples, each one meticulously placed in its assigned spot, boxes at precise right angles, tile and wood flooring samples neatly stacked by size and color. He walked into the Kitchen, becoming aware of all the containers stacked neatly by size on the counter, every coffee mug placed with the handle pointing directly out. Everything had a place, everything was planned out. He stood with his back to the door, shaking his head in annoyance at himself when someone knocked on the open door behind him.

"Sonny?"

He turned around to Will standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here?"

"Are you okay?" Will asked. "I didn't mean for that to go that way. I'm sorry."

"You keep pissing me off and then tracking me down to apologize, it's pretty annoying." Sonny said, partially kidding, trying not to smile.

"Yeah, I guess I do, don't I?" Will chuckled. He shut the door behind him and put his backpack on the floor, setting the cowboy hat in top of it. "If it's any consolation, I'm not trying to piss you off, but I've been told I have that effect on people."

"It doesn't matter anyway. You were right though, I need to stop planning everything. I mean, look at this place. Everything neatly where it belongs, everything's in perfect order. Do you know why?" Sonny asked him.

"I do, yeah."

"Oh, you do, huh?" Sonny mocked, positive that Will would not understand his compulsion of order. "Why?"

"It's so you're in control."

He looked at him with shock, "That's right."

"I know." Will slowly but deliberately closed the distance between him and Sonny as he softly spoke. "If you're in control then nothing bad can happen, right?"

"Something like that." Sonny answered quietly, leaning against the wall as Will approached.

"It's exhausting though, isn't it?" Will stood inches from Sonny, his blue eyes piercing into him. "Being in control?" He put his hand on the wall next to Sonny's head and leaned in, his mouth hovering just in front of Sonny's. "Don't you want to just let go?"

"I told you, Will. It's not me, I'm not that guy." Sonny nudged forward slightly, trying to connect with his mouth, but Will pulled back slightly at the same time, teasing him.

Will smiled seductively at him. "But you want to be that guy, don't you, Sonny?" He slid his hand down Sonny's chest. "You want to let go." Will moved in closer, pushing Sonny's leg open with his knee, his hand lingered over Sonny's crotch. "You need to let go. Don't you?" Will grabbed Sonny's hard cock in his hand and covered his lips with his.

He moaned into Will's mouth, their tongues circled together desperately and their breathing quickened. Sonny grinded his hips as Will's hand rubbed Sonny's length over his shorts. Will slid his other hand up Sonny's back wrapping his fingers in Sonny's thick hair and pulled it back, breaking their lips from each other and exposing Sonny's neck. Will sunk his teeth into Sonny, sucking and biting gently but passionately. Sonny groaned and whimpered, which only seemed to encourage Will to clamp onto his neck more, biting Sonny hard. "Fuck!" Sonny whimpered aloud, pushing Will away, sending him stumbling back.

Will steadied himself and stared at Sonny hungrily, wiping the string of saliva from his lips with the back of his hand, his chest heaved as he breathed. His blue eyes bore into Sonny, only to be met by equal desperation. Sonny held his neck where Will's mouth was and felt an unusual wetness. He pulled his hand away and looked at, "I'm bleeding." He showed the hand to Will.

Will kept his gaze on him, like a hungry lion on an injured gazelle. "Sorry." He said unapologetically.

Sonny pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Will repeated the action, ripping his shirt open, sending buttons flying and tossing the shirt to the floor. Sonny grinned at Will's bare chest then dropped his shorts to the floor, kicking off his shoes, standing naked and erect in front of Will. Will unzipped his jeans as Sonny purposely walked by him into the bedroom, stopping at the doorway and turning back to Will.

"Get the hat." Sonny told him, sneering at him enticingly. "Keep the boots on."


	4. Chapter 4

Sonny sat with Lisa B. and Abigail eating lunch at a table on the patio of the café in the town square. He took a bite of his turkey and avocado wrap and noticed Lisa kept staring at him in a peculiar way.

"So, are you ready for classes to start next week?" Abigail asked him.

"Yeah, I guess. It's been a while since I've been in school, so I'm a little nervous." He told her, flashing Lisa a curious look as she stared at him.

"You shouldn't be nervous, "Abigail reassured him, taking bite of her salad "you'll be fine. So, what are you up to this afternoon? Do you want to go to the movies with us?"

"Thanks, but I can't. I'm tearing up baseboards this afternoon." He took another bite of his wrap and gave Lisa a questioning shrug as she continued to stare at his face.

"Well, what about later tonight? We're all going to that new club downtown, you in?"

"Yeah, sounds fun." He told to Abigail, turning an irritated glare at Lisa. "Lisa, what are you looking at? You've been staring at me since I sat down."

"I don't know." Lisa said, "There's something different about you since the last time I saw you. Did you get a haircut?" she asked.

"No."

"Did you go tanning?"

"No, I don't go tanning." Sonny said, with a huff of exasperation.

"Well there's something different about you." She leaned forward and examined Sonny's face intently, then gasped out loud, "You had sex!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Sonny's eye's got huge with surprise. "No, no…no….no." he shook his head at her, trying to convince her.

"Sonny Kiriakis, you dog you." Abigail teased him.

"You guys are imaging things. I did not have sex." Sonny tried again to convince them, but to no avail.

"Yes, you did, you liar! You had sex!" Lisa reasserted loudly.

"Alright, fine." He conceded, looking around at the other diners looking their way. "I had sex, but keep your voice down, jeez."

Lisa and Abigail scooted their chairs closer to Sonny and leaned on the table, staring at him with anxious looks on their faces.

"What?" he asked.

"Spill." Lisa told him.

"Yeah, Sonny, give us the details." Abigail agreed.

"No. I'm not doing that." He said, chuckling dismissively, "I had sex, period, those are the details."

"Oh, come on, give us something." they pleaded. "When did it happen? Was it good? Do we know him?" they kept staring at him, willing him talk.

"I'm not discussing this with you guys." Sonny folded his arms defiantly.

Lisa carefully examined his face again. "It was Will, wasn't it?"

"No," Abigail said, shaking her head at Lisa. "Sonny wouldn't sleep with Will, he barely knows him. Right?" she asked, turning back to Sonny.

Sonny stared at Lisa in disbelief. "How do you do that?"

"It's a gift." Lisa smiled and cocked her head, taking a sip from her drink.

"Wait, she's right?" Abigail asked, accusingly. "You slept with Will?"

"Yes, I slept with Will." Sonny said, mocking her stunned tone.

"But you said…"

"I know what I said, Abigail, but I changed my mind. Will was right, sometimes you just have to let go."

"So Will's to blame, I knew it." She said crossly.

"Jesus, Abs. No one is to blame. I wanted to sleep with Will so I did." Sonny was growing angry with Abigail's attitude toward him and Will. "Why are you so bent out of shape about this? How is this any of your concern?"

"It's my concern because I love both you and Will, but I know how this is going to end." she snapped at him.

"And how's it going to end?" Sonny shot back.

"With someone getting hurt, that's how." Abigail took a deep breath and calmed her tone, trying to reason with Sonny. "Will's not ready for this, not after Cole, and…"

Sonny interrupted her, "There is no 'this' Abigail, we just had some fun, nothing more."

"Really, Sonny?" she said skeptically. "I've seen the way he acts around you, the way you look at him. It's the same way you used to look at Ja…"

"DON'T!" Sonny stood up angrily, pointing his finger at her furiously. "I can't believe you would bring him up. This is nothing like that!" He took out his wallet and pulled the money out for his lunch, throwing it on the table. "I'm going to tell you this only one time, Abi. My love life, past or present, is none of your fucking business."

"Sonny, wait." Abigail called after him as Sonny stormed off.

Lisa sat and watched the entire exchange between Abigail and Sonny, calmly eating her salad, looking to and from whoever was talking like she was watching the ball in a tennis match. As Sonny walked away she turned to Abigail and asked "So who do think was the top?"

* * *

Will climbed the steps of Sonny's house and stepped over the pile of chipped and rotted wood trim stacked on the front porch, stopping at the open front door and looking in through the screen. "Sonny?" he called into the house, knocking on the wood frame of screened door.

Sonny appeared from the back hall carrying more trim and nodded to Will, "Hey, what are you doing here?"

Will opened the screened door for him and Sonny threw the trim on the porch with the rest of the pile. "I wanted to see the inside of the house." Will told him, "You said I could come by anytime."

"You were here the other night." Sonny reminded him.

"I know," Will said, grinning at Sonny coyly. "But it was dark and I had other things on my mind."

Sonny ignored his flirting. "Well, come on in. Look around." He said blankly, walking past Will back into the house.

"Are you alright?" Will asked, following him in. "You look pissed off. Is this about the other night?"

Sonny ran his hand through his hair in frustration, "No. Sorry, it's not that. I had fun the other night. I had lunch with Abigail earlier and something she said ticked me off, that's all."

"What did she say?"

"You know what, it's not important." Sonny suddenly noticed Will's body in the tight white shirt he wears at the pub. He lingered his eyes on Will's collarbone a little longer than he should, then smiled at him, "So, you going to work?"

"I'm on my break." Will said, grinning at him again. "I saw that."

"Saw what?"

"You looking at my neck, I saw that."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do." Will said playfully, closing the distance between them. "Collarbones turn you on, don't they?"

"Why do say that?" Sonny returned his flirty smile.

"Because, the other night you kept nibbling on it whenever I leaned over you while we were…"

"Okay. Easy there, killer." Sonny pushed Will back a little, still grinning. "Do you ever turn your flirt off?"

"Not around you." Will bit his lower lip and wiggled his eyebrows at Sonny.

Sonny chuckled at him and changed the subject. "Alright, do you want the grand tour?"

"Sure, where do you want to start?"

He showed Will around the house pointing out all the things that had to be replaced, old flooring, chipped paint and water damaged ceilings. "It needs a lot of work, but it's got good bones." Sonny said, as they stopped in the living room. "So, any ideas?"

"Are you kidding me? Tons." Will said excitedly. "First, we need to take this wall down…" he pointed to the wall separating the kitchen and living room, "…it's not structural and it will open the kitchen up to the living room and make this whole area look bigger…" He kept going, hurrying around the room like a little kid in a candy store, explaining all his ideas to Sonny. "…we definitely need to keep these floors, we can refinish them and replace the rotted wood in the kitchen with some natural stone; it will go really good with dark cabinets with stainless accents. We can figure out the counter tops later…" He stopped in front of Sonny at the fireplace. "…and this whole pre-fab mantle needs to go. It's not original and it looks like shit. We can build an oak one and stain it to match the floors. I can even carve the center to match the finials on the front porch…"

Sonny stared at Will as he went on describing his plans for the house. The cocky veneer once again faded away, just like the other day at the pub. Sonny wondered to himself which was the real Will; then he noticed something that Will kept repeating. "Wait, what do you mean by 'We'?" he asked Will, interrupting him.

"Huh?"

"We." Sonny repeated. "You keep saying 'We' should do this 'We' should do that. What does that mean?"

"Oh, I guess I just assumed that you would let me help you. Sorry, I didn't mean to be presumptuous."

"No, it's okay. I'm happy for the help, and you seem to know what you're doing."

"So, you'll let me help?" Will asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah, absolutely."

"Great! Thanks, this place is going to be awesome when were done." Will hugged Sonny quickly; then walked toward the door. "I have to get back to the pub, my breaks almost over. Are you going out with us tonight?"

"I was, but after what Abigail said to me earlier… I'm not sure if I'm in the mood."

"What did she say to you? Was it about me?"

"No." Sonny told him, "I mean some of it was, but that's not what really got to me."

"Well, why don't come out with us anyway. Have a few drinks, dance, and just forget about it."

"I don't know."

"Come on," Will pleaded, flashing him another flirty smile. "Come dance with me."

Sonny shook his head at him, and gave him a look of confusion. "I can't figure you out, Will." He told him. "One minute I ask you out and you turn me down. Then you show up on my door and we end up in bed but you're gone when I wake up, with no explanation. Then you're this completely different person, excited about helping me with the house, then…" Sonny snapped his fingers, "…you're back to Mr. Cocky Flirt. Who are you, Will?"

"I'm just me, Sonny, just me."

"Yeah, but who is that?"

Will stood close to Sonny, breaking his personal space, "Come dance with me, maybe you'll find out."

He grinned back at Will, exchanging glances. Sonny knew full well he was going, for reasons he had not figured out yet, he was drawn to Will. "Okay, I'll come. But you're buying my drinks."

"Deal." Will said then gave Sonny a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you tonight."

Sonny watched Will leave and the confusion that seemed to follow after any time together with Will set in again. "What the hell was that?" Sonny asked out loud to no one. "Why did he just kiss me?"

Will rounded the corner on the way back to the pub, his mind raced as he tried to figure out what he just did. "Why did I kiss him?" he said aloud. "What the hell was that?"

* * *

Will stepped out the shower and dried himself off. He wrapped the towel around his waist and wiped off the mirror with his hand. He kept playing the kiss over and over in his head. In the grand scheme of things it was nothing, just a peck, a small kiss, nothing of any substance but he knew it was more than that. He was excited to see Sonny again, he has been thinking about him constantly since the other night. His own growing feelings for Sonny were colliding with his usual instincts to not get attached, to run the other way. "Are you ready for this?" he asked his reflection.

He was finishing getting dressed when he heard Sami come in. He walked out into the kitchen and sat down at the table to put his shoes on, barely nodding at a visibly drunk Sami as she flipped through mail from that day.

"Where's Johnny?" Sami asked him, her speech was slurred.

"With his dad, it's EJ's weekend." Will told her, not bothering to look at her.

"Where are you going?" She asked him, opening a legal envelope and reading the document inside.

"Out." Will got up and walked back to his room to get his wallet and keys.

"Will!" Sami screamed as she burst through his bedroom door, "Did you know about this?" she threw the papers at him.

"Did I know about what?" Will asked, picking up the document.

"EJ is suing me for full custody of Johnny."

"What?" Will read through the document as Sami lit up a cigarette and puffed on it nervously, with her hands shaking. "You're right. He's saying you're an unfit mother." Will handed the custody papers back to Sami and walked past her on his way out.

"Where are you going?" She asked with irritation.

"I told you, I'm going out."

"Will? What are we going to do about this?" She screamed at him, holding up the papers.

"Nothing." Will said matter-of-factly.

"Nothing?" Sami exclaimed wildly.

"Sami, you just came home drunk at 8:30 and didn't even know where Johnny was. Three days ago, you asked me to watch him and then you went and got high." Will picked up her purse and shook it. "If I look through here, what am I going to find, hmm?"

She snatched her purse from him, "So you're just going to let him take Johnny from us?"

"EJ is a great dad to Johnny, he adores him. Like a parent should." He said pointedly, "Johnny will have a better life with EJ, a life with people who care about him. " Will's anger grew as he yelled at her, "Johnny can have the life that I never got with parents that want him and love him!"

"You're father and I loved you."

"Really, Sami?" Will shouted at her. "Is that why you've been perpetually stoned or drunk for most of my life? Is that why Children's Services took me from you and put me in foster homes three times? Was it because you loved me?" Will's face was red with anger as he unloaded on her. "And where is my dear loving father? Oh, that's right, he left. He loved me so much he left."

"You're pathetic, you know that, Will?" Sami derided him, "Everything that goes wrong in your life is not my fault. You know full well why you're father left and it wasn't because of me."

"Your right, _Mom_." Will said condescendingly. "Maybe that was on me. But it sure didn't help that his slut wife came home pregnant with another man's child."

Sami scowled at him furiously, and flicked her lit cigarette at his face, burning him on the cheek under his eye. He put his hand over his cheek, wincing at the pain and glared at her through red, hate filled eyes.

Sami started crying, "Will, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." She said remorsefully through her tears.

Will opened the apartment door and turned back to Sami, "I'm going do whatever I can to help EJ get full custody of Johnny," He said calmly "and when Johnny's safe and away from you for good, you and I are done." then he left, and shut the door.

* * *

Will stood outside the club staring at the door. Maybe Abigail had a point, he thought to himself, maybe Sonny did deserve better than him, maybe everybody did. He rubbed the burn mark under his cheek, and walked away.

Sonny looked at his watch again, looking over toward the door of the club. He downed the last sip of his second drink, and rolled his eyes as Abigail came over to the table. "I don't want to hear it, Abs." he told her.

"I'm not here to say I told you so, I'm here to apologize." she said. "I'm sorry about earlier today. You're right, it is none of my business who you date. But in my defense, I am only looking out for you, both of you."

"I know, and it's okay. I'm sorry I got so pissed."

"And Sonny, I am really, really sorry I brought up James; that was so unfair of me." Abigail apologized.

"Just forget it. All is forgiven." He said, hugging her. "You guys have fun, I'm going home."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay and dance, he might show up still."

"Nope, I don't feel like dancing anymore. See you later, Abs." Sonny waved goodbye as he left the club and headed home.

* * *

Sonny grabbed another beer from the fridge and glanced at the clock, 2:15 AM. He walked back into the living room and searched through the boxes until he found the one he was looking for. He carefully opened the box along the tape lines and pulled out a photo album. He flipped to the very back of the book, to a stack of loose photos stuck between the pages. Picking up the one on top, he stared the picture of his younger self and James, taken on a family vacation. He shuddered slightly at the realization that he didn't remember the contours of James's face as well as he used to. He had that photo memorized at one time. Sonny took another sip from his beer, when he heard a knock at the front door.

He put the photo back between the pages and put the photo album on the counter. He glanced out window next to the front door and saw Will standing on the other side.

"Nope. No." He said to Will, opening the front door, "You stood me up, we're not doing this."

"Something came up, I wanted to explain."

"You came over here at 2:00 in the morning to _explain_?"

"I did, really. Can I come in?"

Sonny stepped back, making way for Will to enter. Will walked by him and turned back to him as Sonny closed the door. "Alright, explain." Sonny said.

Will stood quietly with his head hung low. "I don't know what to tell you, except that I'm sorry I didn't show up tonight. I really did want to dance with you." He said, looking up to Sonny.

"What happened to your face?" Sonny asked, noticing the red mark on Will's cheek. He stepped closer to Will to get a better look.

"It's nothing; it's fine." Will told him, looking into his eyes. "I don't know why I came here."

"I thought you wanted to explain why you didn't show up at the club."

Will stared at him again, their eyes connecting, and he suddenly needed him again. Will lunged forward and kissed Sonny, wrapping his hands on the back of his neck. Sonny returned the kiss passionately, pulling Will closer by his waist. Will broke this kiss and rested his forehead on Sonny's.

"What is this?" asked Sonny, "What are we doing?"

"I don't know. I just… I need to be here." Will said softly, "Do you want me to leave?"

Sonny didn't move or say anything, he just kept Will's gaze.

"Sonny, do you want me to leave?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Give it to me." Sonny pleaded.

"You want it?"

"Yes, give it to me."

"Beg for it," Will goaded him on, "Beg me for it."

Sonny pinched Will's nipple between his fingers and twisted, "Hand it over."

"Ow!" Will squirmed in the bed, wrestling the sheet off of their naked bodies while Sonny continued to pinch. "Ouch! Okay, I give, I give!" He handed the big red bowl to him and rubbed his nipple as Sonny let go. "You don't play fair, Cookie."

"Could you _please_ stop calling me 'Cookie'?" Sonny pulled the sheet back over them. "My mother calls me that and it's creepy when you do too, especially when I'm covered in your sex sweat." He looked into the red bowl of snack mix in his lap and whined to Will, "You ate all the crispy cheesy things."

"I like the cheesy things. I saved you all the pretzels, though. I don't like those." Will said.

"Nobody likes the pretzels."Sonny searched through the bowl, picking out the peanuts.

"If you don't like 'Cookie', what do you want me to call you?"

"How about 'Sonny'? It is my name, you know." he said, sarcastically.

"What about 'Fuzzy Butt'?" Will teased him.

"Are you telling me I have a hairy ass?"

"No, No… it's not hairy. It's just a little fuzzy." Will turned on his side, facing Sonny and propped his head up with his hand. "I like it, it's cute…Fuzzy Butt."

Sonny laughed at him, flashing a big toothy grin. He set the bowl on the floor and laid back against his pillow as Will watched him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Sonny asked him, putting his arm behind his head.

"No reason, just looking." Will gave him a bashful grin, "You have nice smile."

Sonny's eyes met Will's and they smirked at each other silently, yet again trying to figure the other out. They lay there in a comfortable quiet. Will looked away first, turning his attention Sonny's torso. He ran his fingers along the two vertical lines of small flag tattoos along Sonny's side. Sonny reached down and stroked Will's back as they lay on the bed, naked and still. Will continued to trace the tattoos with his fingers. "You've been to all these places?" he asked.

"Every one." Sonny let out a yawn as he answered.

"What's it like?"

"What, getting tattooed?"

"No, traveling, seeing all these places. Was it amazing?"

"Yes, it was amazing. I met so many great people, saw places I never thought I would see. Amazing is the perfect word for it. Have you ever been any of those countries?"

"No, I've never been anywhere. But I want to, I want to go everywhere."

"You never went on family vacations?" Sonny asked.

"No…not exactly. My grandmother took used to take me into Chicago every now and then when I used to live with her, but that's as far as I've ever been away from here. She would take me to the museums and galleries…" Will's voice turned low then trailed off.

Sonny gently stroked Will's back and felt his muscles relax as he talked. Will shifted and settled his body closer to Sonny, resting his head on Sonny's chest. His voice became softer and more vulnerable than Sonny had ever heard in the short time he'd known him as Will talked about his grandmother. "You used to live with your grandmother?"

"Yeah, when I was a little kid, up until I was about six. She lived on the next block over actually, that's how I know the neighborhood."

"What happened when you were six?" Sonny questioned.

He felt Will's body tighten again and his tone was harder, more distant when he answered. "She died." He said plainly.

They lay quietly again, Sonny stroked Will's backs and shoulders until he felt him relax again. "Can I ask you something?" Sonny asked quietly.

Will glanced up to him and nodded, waiting for the question.

"Earlier you said that you _needed _to be here. What did you mean by that?"

His body tightened again at the memory of his argument with Sami. Will sighed heavily and rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. "Can we not talk about that now?"

"Okay, sure." Sonny agreed, feeling the tension from Will. "It's just that you seemed upset about something and I…"

"Sonny, please. I really don't want to talk about it." Will knew his words come out pointedly, but he wasn't ready to share that part of his life yet and was unsure is if he ever would be. But more than his own uneasiness, he was scared of Sonny's reaction to his family dysfunction.

"I'm sorry, and I'm not trying to pry. But you know, if you ever want to talk."

Will rolled back onto his side and looked up to Sonny again. "I do know that, Sonny, and I appreciate it," Will reassured him "but you have to understand, it's hard for me to open up like that."

"Can I… and you don't have to answer, but can I ask why?"

"I don't know, I don't like to be…exposed, I guess." Will propped his head on his hand again and turned back to Sonny's side, running his fingers back over his tattoos.

Sonny smiled to himself, thankful for another small glimpse into Will. "You know, Will. You're kind of exposed right now. I mean, from this angle I can see your ass." He kidded.

Will swatted him on the side playfully, "Shut up, you know what I mean." Will glided his fingers to the flag of the United States at the top of the first line and traced the outline of the flag, noticing the small black 'S' in the bottom corner.

"Is the 'S' is for 'Sonny'?"

"Yeah." Sonny mumbled, yawing again.

Will ran his finger down to the bottom of the second line of flags, and traced the outline of the flag of New Zealand, eying the small black letter in the corner. He leaned closer to get a better look and made out the letter 'J'.

"What's the 'J' for?" he asked.

Sonny didn't say anything.

"Sonny?" Will sat up and turned to find a sleeping Sonny, softly snoring.

Will pulled the sheet over Sonny carefully, trying not to wake him and got up out of the bed, pulling his boxers up over himself and quietly walked out of the bedroom to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and examined the contents, grabbing a bottle of water and a couple grapes, and shut the fridge behind him. He took a big drink of the water and set the bottle down, noticing the photo album sitting on the counter. He opened the album to the first page and let out a loud snorting laugh at the picture of a toddler Sonny, naked in a bathtub with a beard of bubbles. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand, suppressing his laughter, looking back toward the bedroom hoping he didn't wake Sonny.

Will slowly shut the door to the bedroom so not to disturb Sonny, then turned on the kitchen light and flipped through the photo album, smiling and laughing quietly at the pictures of Sonny over the years. Sonny as a child playing baseball, at Disney World wearing Mickey Mouse ears, birthday parties and at school dances and pictures of Sonny and his parents on family vacations. Will stared at these photos particularly longer than the others, feeling somewhat ashamed of the jealousy he felt at the happiness on their faces, a look he could not remember ever seeing on his parents.

He turned the last page of the album to a stack of loose photos between the pages. He looked again back toward the bedroom door, suddenly feeling a bit guilty going through the photos. He picked up the stack of loose photos examining each one. All the pictures were of Sonny and another guy, the same red haired guy in all the photos. They appeared to be together, Sonny and the red haired guy, and they seemed happy Will thought. He picked the top photo up again and turned it over, on the back in blue ink, a name was written, "James".

* * *

Will opened the door to the pub in the early morning hours and walked through the dark dining room to the back office. He changed into the clean pair of work clothes he kept there and laid down on the couch to get a quick nap before his shift, having not slept much that night. Thoughts of his night with Sonny played on a loop in his mind, happily keeping him from his rest. Unable to sleep, he pulled his pad from his backpack and began sketching his ideas for the interior of the house, hoping Sonny would like them.

Sonny rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched his arms out above his head, yawning loudly and looking around the room, "Will?" he called out. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, "ooh, ouch" he said snickering to himself, and rubbing his butt at the aching reminder of Will inside him last night. "Will?" he called again, walking into the kitchen. "Did he leave again without saying anything?" He headed in to the bathroom and found a damp towel hanging over the shower door. "He took a shower?" Sonny rushed back into the bedroom as he heard his phone ring, "Hello?"

"Hey, Cuz," Abigail said on the other side of the phone, "How you doing?"

"I'm great, why?"

"Well, when you left the club last night you seemed a little down because Will didn't show up."

"Oh, that. Yeah, that's all good now. He came over last night and apologized." Sonny told her.

"Oh, he _apologized_ did he?" Abigail asked mockingly, chuckling at him.

"Yep," he replied, laughing back. "He _apologized_ the hell out of me."

"Sonny!"

"Sorry, Abs, I'm just… I'm in a good mood."

"I can tell. You want to grab some lunch?"

"Yeah, sure." Sonny said, noticing a note from Will on his bedside table. "I need to take a shower. Meet you at the pub in an hour?"

"See you then. Bye, Sonny."

"Bye, Abs." Sonny hung up his phone then picked up and read the note from Will. _"Had to go to work, thanks for the shower - Will P.S. You owe me a dance"_

* * *

Abigail walked into the pub and waved at Will behind the bar. "Hi, Will." she sang at him with a knowing smile.

"Why are you talking like that?" Will returned in the same sing-song tone.

"No reason," she teased him, "I heard from a little bird that you has a good time last night."

"What... wait, did you talk to Sonny?"

"Maybeee"

"Abigail, stop. What did he say?" he asked enthusiastically.

"He said that you went to his house last night to apologize for not showing up at the club. He said he was in a good mood." She told him. "Well, did you?"

"Did I what? Did I apologize?"

"Yeah, did you?"

"I did," Will said, grinning proudly at her. "Twice"

Abigail smiled at him and shook her head, "Look at you, Will. I haven't seen you act like this about somebody in a long time."

"Like what?"

"You like him, don't you?"

Will's cheeks reddened and he gave her a bashful look. "I don't know, Abi. I mean… yes, I like him. I feel comfortable around him and you know that doesn't happen to me a lot. But…"

"But what, Will?"

"What happens when he finds out about Sami and my dad, and every other fucked up thing in my life? What happens when I flake out at him and push him away, just like I always do."

"So don't do that, Will."

"It's not that easy for me, Abi."

"Listen, Will. I'll admit that I was not a big supporter of you two getting together…"

"Yeah, I got that when you said he deserved better than me." he said crossly.

"I'm sorry I said that, I really am. I was wrong." She told him, "Looking at you now, seeing how Sonny talks about you, maybe you guys are exactly what each other needs."

"Do you think so?"

"I do, Will. I think he would be good for you. He's a great guy, he wouldn't lie to you. Look, Will. I know what Cole did to you. I know he cheated on you, and I know Sami and Lucas weren't the best relationship role models."

"Abi, this has nothing to do with my parents or Cole." Will said harshly and started walking away from her.

Abigail grabbed his arm and pulled him back, "Yes it does, Will. They hurt you, Sonny won't. You can trust Sonny."

"I want to, I really do." He said desperately.

"Will, then just talk to him, tell him the truth. Give him a chance." She pleaded him.

Will thought about the last night with Sonny, and how easy it was to talk with him about his grandma and how calm and happy was lying next to him. He couldn't remember the last time he felt that close to someone, or if he ever had. "Okay."

"Really, you're going to talk to him?"

Will nodded. "I am. I'm going to tell him everything about myself, and hopefully he doesn't run away screaming."

Abigail smiled at him, "He won't. I know he won't."

"Can I ask you something though, Abi? Do you know who James is?"

Abigail shifted in her seat nervously. "Um… did he say something to you about James?"

"No," Will said, "I saw some pictures of him and some guy and on the back the name 'James' was written. Who is he?"

"You should ask Sonny about that, it should come from him, not me." Abigail fidgeted with the menu.

"Just tell me, was he his boyfriend? He has a small 'J" on his New Zealand tattoo, is that for James?" Will asked curiously.

"He needs to be the one to tell you, Will. It's not my place, okay?" she said. "When you talk to him, just ask him, ask him about James, he'll tell you. But listen, Will, if he doesn't want to talk about it, don't push him."

* * *

Sonny and Abigail were finishing up their lunch when Will waved Sonny over to the bar. "Hey, what's up?" he said, taking a seat on a stool. "I got your note; did you want to dance now?" Sonny teased him.

"No, I wanted to ask you something, Fuzzy Butt." Will grinned at him. "Sonny, do you um… maybe, want to have dinner with me tomorrow night? We could talk, you know, and get to know each other better?"

"You mean like a date? But, you don't date, Will. Remember?" he smirked at Will.

"No. Not a date." Will conceded. "Just two people who kind of like each other, having dinner together and talking, that's all."

Sonny laughed out loud at him. "That's a date, Will! That's the textbook definition of a date!" he mocked him.

"Are you going to answer me, or make fun of me?"

"I'm really sorry, but I don't date." Sonny said, playfully returning Will's own words.

"Sonny, come on!" Will exclaimed with exasperation.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He chuckled at Will. "I'm just having some fun with you. Ask me again, ask me for real."

Will smirked at him and looked into his eyes adoringly. "Sonny, would you like to go on a date with me?"

Sonny reached over the bar and grabbed Will's hand, returning Will's affectionate smile. "I'd love to, Will."

Will let out a huge breath he was unaware he was holding in, "Whew, that wasn't as hard as I thought."

"You're something else, Will." Sonny shook his head and snickered at Will's awkwardness, "You want to meet me at my house at 7:00?"

"Yeah, I'll see you then." Will watched Sonny and Abigail leave, waving to them as the door closed. He watched through the window as Sonny walked away and felt proud for putting himself out there, for being vulnerable and letting someone else in. For the first time in a long time he was looking forward to something more.

"Aw, isn't that cute, Will's got a date."

Will heard the condescending voice from behind him and turned around angrily. "What the fuck do you want Cole? I thought I made it pretty clear the last time I saw you to stay the hell away." Will balled is fists and stomped toward Cole.

"Easy there, punchy." Cole said, holding his hands up to Will and looking around at the customers in the pub. "You wouldn't want to get fired for hitting a customer."

Will took a steadying breath and went back behind the bar. "You need to leave. Now." he ordered.

"Why? I just wanted to congratulate you on your date. New love is always fun."

Will ignored him and kept working, wiping down the bar and cleaning the glasses, trying to keep his cool as each word Cole said made him more irate.

"He's hot; I'll give you that, Will." Cole went on, "You do have good taste in guys. After all you did pick me." Cole knew he was getting to him; he saw Will's muscles tensing and continued to taunt him.

"How do you think this is going to play out Will? Do you really think you're going to fall in love and live happily ever after? Really, you?"

Will turned around and put his face up in Cole's. "Fuck you, you don't know shit."

"I don't?" Cole spat back, "I know better than anyone, Will."

Will could feel his whole body shaking, wanting badly to make Cole stop talking. "Get out." He said furiously.

"What do you think is going to happen when he finds out your mom's a junkie, huh? That you're father beat the crap out you and left. When he finds out that your trash, just like your mother and just like your father? I'll tell what's going to happen, Will. He's going to leave."

"No, he won't. He's different. He's not scum like you." Will tried to keep his emotions in check, but everything Cole was saying was true, he thought to himself.

"He'll leave, Will, not because of who he is, but because of who you are. He'll leave because of you. You push people away; you're incapable of letting people get close to you." Cole got up and glared at Will before he left, "You're dad may have been a drunk, but he got one thing right, Will… you're worthless."

Will slammed the pub's office door closed behind him and sat down on the couch, wringing his hands through his hair trying to suppress the crying rage Cole caused. "You're not. You're not." He told himself over and over. "It's different this time, it has to be." His phone rang and Will's pulled it from his pocket and saw Sonny's name on the display. "All I have to do is hit answer and I might be happy." He stared at Sonny's name as the phone rang, again. "Just hit answer" he told himself. But in the back of his mind he knew, "If you don't get attached, you don't get hurt."

The phone rang again, and Will pressed decline.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N – Hi all. I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone for all the great comments, I'm really glad you all are enjoying this story. I know a lot of you are waiting on WilSon already and I promise they're on the way, but this story is really about the journey of Will and Sonny to WilSon and I quite like writing them struggling their way through. This chapter's not as long, but it sets up the next two chapters and the all important "talk" where everything finally comes out. Thanks for reading! Cheers!**

* * *

Sonny checked the time once more, 7:15. Will must be running late, he thought to himself. He stepped back into the bathroom and fussed with his hair again, making sure it was perfect, checked his teeth in the mirror and blew into his hand to test his breath. He went back to the living room and looked out the front window to see if he could spot Will heading up the street. He glanced at the clock again and decided to text him. "_You running late? Can't wait to see you." _Sonny paced around the house nervously waiting on a reply, trying to remember if they agreed to meet at 7:00 or 8:00, it's now 7:45 and still no Will, so they must have said 8:00, he thought.

Forty-five minutes later and still nothing from Will; Sonny grabbed his phone from the counter and dialed. He thought back to the other night with Will, lying in bed together, he thought that he felt a connection, but with each unanswered ring of the phone he second guessed his memories and grew more annoyed. "_Hey, It's Will, leave a message."_ came from the other end.

"Will, hey, it's Sonny. Um… just wondering if you were on your way over here, or um… I don't know, maybe you forgot about tonight and our date… uh… yeah, so… call me, I guess." Sonny hung up the phone and threw it into the couch cushions in frustration. "Shit, he's doing it again, isn't he? He's standing me up."

Sonny grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat on the steps of the front porch, waiting to give Will an earful when or if he showed up. Two hours and four beers later, his emotions boiled over in a mix of anger and rejection. He went back inside and rifled through the couch cushions for his phone, "Stand me up, will you? I don't think so." He muttered angrily, and somewhat drunkenly, to no one. "What the hell is his problem?" He dialed Will's number, ready to tell him off. The phone rang then rang again, and then again. "_Hey, it's Will, leave a message." _

"Will, it's Sonny again." he said harshly into the phone, then stopped himself. "What the hell am I doing?" he thought silently, "This isn't me, I'm not the guy that leaves crazy drunken messages. Get a hold of yourself." He collected himself from his thoughts, realizing that the voice mail was still recording, "Um… never mind."

He hung the phone up again and stared at it, then turned it off. "I'm done with this." He stated clearly and set the phone down on the counter. He pulled his shirt off over his head, ruffled his hair and let out an exhaustive sigh, "It's your loss, Will Horton.", and then he turned the lights off and went to bed.

* * *

Will sat on a bench at the entrance to the park, staring at the text from Sonny, "_You running late? Can't wait to see you." _He read the text over and over, "_Can't wait to see you."_ trying to gather the courage to text Sonny back or call him and tell him he couldn't wait to see him either. He wanted desperately to tell Sonny how he felt but a lifetime of disappointment and being let down by those closest to him, reinforced by Cole's words, kept him back. Yet again shutting out the people he cared about.

"William?"

Will looked up to see EJ standing in front of him, "Oh, hey EJ, I didn't see you there."

"I was just headed to the pub to talk to you." EJ told him.

Will picked his backpack up off the bench and made room for EJ, "It's my night off."

"Are you okay William? You look upset." EJ said, sitting down next to him.

"I'm fine," he said, fidgeting with his phone. "I just have a lot going on. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to let you know that I was granted temporary custody of Johnny until the final hearing. Are you okay with that?"

"Whatever is best for Johnny is all I care about, EJ, and you and I both know that means away from Sami." Will told him, as his phone rang.

"Do you need to get that?" EJ asked.

Will saw Sonny's name on the display and once again tried to convince himself to answer the phone, his thumb hovered over the answer button as the phone rang. He stared at the phone blankly until the call went to voice mail.

"William, are you sure you're okay?" EJ asked again, seeing the confused and distressed look on Will's face.

"I'm fine, EJ." He said again, unconvincingly.

"Why don't you come home with me and watch a movie with us and Johnny? I know he'd love to see you."

"Thanks, but… not tonight."

EJ stood up and put his hand on Will's shoulder. "You're welcome any time, William. You'll always be Johnny's brother so you're family to me, understand?"

Will nodded at him in appreciation. "Tell Johnny I love him and I'll see him soon, okay?"

"Will do, take care, William." EJ said as he left.

Will sat quietly on the bench watching the late summer sun set over the line of trees along the pond. He wondered again if he was making the right decision, he knew the things Cole said about him were true, he pushed people away. It may hurt Sonny now, but in the long run Will thought Sonny would be better off without him, or at least he tried to convince himself so. Thoughts of Sonny rolled through his mind, but he kept landing on a single one, the feeling of contentment he had lying in bed the other night cuddled next Sonny with him gently rubbing his back. He could not remember the last time he felt that comfortable around someone, if he ever had. Will walked around the park and the aimlessly for hours, then though the town square until he inexplicably found himself in front of Sonny's house.

He climbed the steps of the darkened porch and stood at the door and raised his hand, willing himself to knock; then chickened out and went back down the steps. "Shit, shit, shit!" he thought, turning back around and climbing the stairs again, finally realizing that he owed it to himself to give Sonny a chance, to give his self a chance at some semblance of happiness. Will knocked softly and waited; no answer. He knocked harder, but still no answer. He knocked again and didn't stop, knocking harder and louder until the porch light turned on.

* * *

Sonny sat up in the bed, startled awake by a noise. He glanced around the dark room trying to locate the sound when he realized it was coming from the front door. He collapsed back down on the bed and threw his hands over his face, "You've got to be kidding me." he said, shaking his head. "I am not doing this again." He pulled the covers over his head and rolled back over. The knocking came again and was louder this time. "Don't you get out of this bed!" he ordered himself. The knocking started again, this time non-stop and getting increasingly louder and harder. "Fuck!" Sonny called out, throwing the covers off and jumping out the bed in a huff. He pulled a pair of shorts over his boxers and stomped out of the bedroom and flipped the porch light on, yanking the door open to Will standing there. "You can't be fucking serious, Will!" he shouted at him.

"Please, just let me explain." He said, trying to get past Sonny into the house.

"No, fuck that." Sonny put his hand on Will's chest and pushed him back slightly, "You're not coming in. I'm not doing this again."

"Sonny, please…" he said desperately "…I just want to talk, really."

He rolled his eyes and groaned in frustration at Will, "Fine" he sighed, and let him by, closing the door behind him and leaning back against it. He waited on him to speak but Will just stood there, staring at him with a look of confusion on his face, saying nothing. "Well?" Sonny asked, unable to hide his aggravation.

Will stood motionless, staring blankly at Sonny trying to remember all the things he wanted to tell him about how he felt, about his family and Cole. He wanted to tell him how Sonny made him feel but his own fears and Sonny's visible anger made him freeze. "I don't know where to start." he said timidly.

"Okay, I'll start then." Sonny's voice was harsh as he stepped toward Will. "Why'd you stand me up tonight?" he asked pointing accusingly at Will.

"I don't know." Will said again, barely audible.

"Fine, we'll come back to that one." Sonny was a little calmer now, trying to relax Will's anxiety. "What about the other night in bed? It was like you were a different person, Will, and I' don't know… I thought I felt something between us. I thought I felt a connection. Was I wrong? Did I imagine that? Because I'm pretty sure you felt it, too."

"You weren't wrong, Sonny." Will told him, finally looking into Sonny's eyes. "I did feel something, I do feel something."

"Then why did you stand me up?" Sonny asked again. His voice cracked, pleading for an explanation.

Will wrung his hands through his hair, searching for the words to tell Sonny his fears but aching not to push Sonny further away. "I told you, Sonny. It's hard for me to talk about this kind of stuff; I don't like putting myself out there."

"Putting _you_ other out there?" Sonny snapped back at him, "Will, what did I say to you the first time you came over here that first night, huh? I told you why I have to plan everything out, everything had its place so that I was in control. Remember? And, what did you say to me?"

Will let out a regretful breath, looking down at the ground. "I said you should just let go."

"That's right, and I did, Will. I let go and opened myself up to you completely. I let you fuck me that night, and the night before last, because you convinced me to let myself go. Do you have any idea what it's like to make yourself that vulnerable to someone?" Sonny's eyes were red, longing for understanding from Will.

Will flashed back to his time with Cole. He let himself be that vulnerable with Cole, only to have it thrown back in his face by Cole cheating on him the entire time they were together. "Yes, I do know, really I do." he tried to convince Sonny.

"Then tell me, please Will!" Sonny begged, "You say you feel a connection, you say you like me. Please god, open yourself up to me and tell me something real, tell me why you stood me up!" he asked again, his frustration resurfacing.

Will rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. "I don't know!" he cried out. He wanted so much to tell him the truth, but could feel himself getting defensive at Sonny's growing anger. His emotions were getting the better of him in the worst way.

"BULLSHIT!" Sonny yelled at him, "You do know, Will. You're just too much of a fucking coward to tell me!"

Will's emotions and fear finally got the best of him, he was now in fight or flight mode as he shot back at Sonny, "Fuck You, Sonny. Don't call me coward. You don't know me; you know nothing about my life!"

"That's all I'm trying to do, Will!" he said in defeat, "I'm trying desperately to know you. But you have to give me something, anything. Why is everything with you a secret?"

"Everybody has secrets, Sonny."

"I don't. I don't have secrets, Will. I've been completely honest with you from the start."

"Really, Sonny?" Will looked into his eyes again, trying to hide the tears welling up behind his own. "You don't have any secrets?"

"No." Sonny replied, shaking his head at Will.

Will regretted the words before he even said them to Sonny, he tried to stop himself but it was no use, "Who is James?"

Will instantly knew he had crossed some line as he watched Sonny's eyes get hard and angry. Sonny's whole body tensed and he stood motionless glaring at Will as his face turned red. Will tried to keep his eyes on Sonny but couldn't and turned away in shame, "Sonny, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."

Sonny walked over and opened the front door, staring at the floor, intentionally not looking at Will. "Get out." He said calmly.

"Sonny please, no…" Will said apologetically.

"I said get out, Will. This was a mistake. Whatever this was… this whole thing was a mistake." He held the door open wide as Will slowly walked out. Will turned back again, but Sonny shut the door on him, turned the lock and then flipped the light out, leaving Will outside, alone in the dark.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi all! Thanks again for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate the comments. I'm glad people are enjoying this story. I know I told a few of you I would have this chapter up last weekend, but I got side tracked with other stuff. Sorry 'bout that. Hope you enjoy this one. Thanks again! Cheers and RTR!**

* * *

Sonny walked over and opened the front door, staring at the floor, intentionally not looking at Will. "Get out." He said calmly.

"Sonny please, no…" Will said apologetically.

"I said get out, Will. This was a mistake. Whatever this was… this whole thing was a mistake." He held the door open wide as Will slowly walked out. Sonny shut the door behind Will, turned the bolt and shut off the porch light. He wrung his hands through his hair in frustration and walked back into the bedroom collapsing on to the bed with a thud and let out an aggravated scream into the pillow. "God, that guy pisses me off." he said, rolling onto his back. Sonny stared at the blades of the ceiling fan spinning around, the moon light coming through the window reflecting off them. He lay there quietly going over the night in his mind. As the anger calmed in him it was replaced with regret for calling Will a coward, then replaced again with second guesses. For the next hours, sleep would elude him as he tried to fight his feelings for Will.

* * *

A shiver ran up Will's spine and he shuddered at the sound of Sonny closing the door behind him as he was plunged into darkness. His head hung low and he was slumped over in defeat, walking away from the house feeling like he was just punched in the gut. He walked back to his apartment in a daze, never looking up from the ground. He climbed the stairs, stopping in front of the door to his apartment and opened his backpack up to fish out his keys. He heard the music and noise coming from inside as he slid the key into the lock. "Shit, not tonight." he mumbled to himself, opening the door to Sami, surrounded by her drunken degenerate friends, snorting a white powder off of the coffee table.

Sami jumped quickly to cover up what she had been doing, surprised by Will's return. "Will, I didn't think you'd be back tonight." she said nervously.

Will ignored her and walked directly into his bedroom and shut the door. He grabbed his duffle bag from the closet and began filling it with his clothes and books for school, threw in his toothbrush and toiletries and zipped it up. Looking around the room for anything he might have forgot, he saw his sketch book sitting on the desk. He flipped though the drawings of ideas for Sonny's house he made for him and sighed. "Why couldn't I just tell him?" he asked himself. "God, I fucked this up." Will wiped his eyes and put the sketch book in his backpack, flung it over his shoulder and picked up his duffle bag.

"You're leaving?" Sami asked him as Will walked out of the bedroom. Will ignored her again, heading toward the door. She grabbed his arm as he opened the door, "Are you coming back?" she asked desperately.

Will jerked his arm away from her, "I'll come back for the rest of my stuff later." he said coldly, "I'll text you when. Don't be here."

"Where are you going?" she called after him. Will ignored her again and kept walking away. "Will?" she shouted to him. "Will?!"

Will blocked out the sound of Sami's voice until it was gone completely as he got further away. He found himself in the dark town square in the late night hours with no idea of where he was going, it was far too late to go to Abigail's, his usual place to crash, he'd figure out a place to stay in the morning. He sat down on the couch in the center of the square and pulled the sketch book from his backpack and flipped through the pages again, his thoughts once more turned to Sonny, wondering how he could feel such a sense of loss from something that never really was. Will stretched out on the couch, laid his head on his bag and closed his eyes. He now realized the truth, he wasn't ready to be with anyone and he knew what he had to do, no matter how hard it would be.

* * *

"_How'd it go?" Sonny asked him._

"_Bad, really bad."_

_Sonny barely recognized his voice, it was empty and distant. He could tell he'd been crying. "It will be okay, I promise." Sonny tried to reassure him._

"_No... it won't." he replied, barely audible._

_Sonny listened intently to the other side of the phone and heard his breathing get faster, like he was panting with fear, then even out, slow and deliberate, then nothing but deafening silence. "James?" Sonny called desperately into his phone. "James, are you there?" Sonny was frantic._

"_I'm sorry, Sonny." He said sobbing, "I'm so sorry…"_

Sonny opened his eyes to the blades of the ceiling fan spinning around in the morning sun, the same sight as the few hours before when he went to sleep. He rolled out of the bed with a heavy sigh, slid his feet into his flip-flops and walked to the kitchen to make his coffee. He leaned against the counter and focused on the sound of the coffee percolating, noticing the photo album still on the counter and realizing Will must have seen the photos and that's how he knew about James. He suddenly felt guilty for accusing Will of not being open with him. Will was right, he thought, Sonny had his own secrets.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and headed to the front porch to drink it in the morning sun. Sonny pulled the front door open and heard something fall at his feet then glanced down to the floor at the book that had been leaning against the door. He bent down to pick it up, turned it over to the front and read the note, _"Sorry. - Will"_

Sonny flipped through the pages of the sketch book. On each page was an incredibly detailed drawing of every part of the house, front and rear elevations shaded in the perfect colors from the siding to the trim, lush green grass behind white picket fencing and a cobblestone patio surrounding a fire pit. He turned the pages in awe that every detail on every page reflected his unspoken ideas of for each room, meticulously drawn with care down to every miniscule detail. "This is incredible." He said to himself, "It's everything I want this place to be, it's perfect." Everything Sonny had envisioned Will was able to put into the sketches, as if recreating the images in Sonny's mind. "How did he know?" Sonny rushed back into the bedroom and grabbed his phone, quickly dialing Will's number. "_Hey, it's Will, leave a message._" Sonny hung up the phone, realizing it was Sunday and Will must be at work at the pub so he can't answer. "I've got to go down there." He told himself, knowing full well he was wrong last night. "I can fix this."

* * *

Will picked his phone up off the table and hit decline at Sonny's number on the display, letting out a sigh.

"Who was that?" Johnny asked.

"Just a friend." Will told him.

"Why didn't you answer, you didn't want to talk to them?" Johnny leaned on the coffee table carefully, trying not to disturb the stack of blocks.

"Nope." Will pulled a block from the middle and stacked on top of the Jenga pile.

"Why not?" He asked innocently.

"Go, it's your turn." Will teased him, giving him a playful shove and changing the subject.

"Daddy says it's rude to ignore people." Johnny informed him.

"I'm not ignoring him, Johnny."

"Are you mad at him?" Johnny pushed gently on a Jenga block with his finger, completely unaware of the magnitude of his questions.

"No, I'm not mad at him."

"Then why don't you want to talk to him?"

"It's complicated, John." Will told him, letting out and exasperated breath and trying to figure out how he got into this conversation with a 5 year old. "We got into an argument."

"You should shake his hand and say you're sorry." Johnny suggested, "That's what teacher makes us do when we get into an argument in class."

Will smiled at Johnny's advice, wishing it was that easy. "What if he doesn't want to shake my hand?"

"Then way would he call you, dummy? Duh." He made a face at Will, as if stating the obvious.

"You're pretty smart, you know that?" Will said smirking at him. He grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into his lap then began tickling his belly, "But did you call me a dummy, you little runt?" Will tickled him furiously causing Johnny to laugh and scream wildly.

"Everything alright in here?" EJ asked, as he and his wife Angela walked into the room.

"Will's tickling me!" Johnny giggled, squirming free from Will's clutches.

"I'm sure you deserved it." Angela teased him, handing a cup of coffee to Will.

"Why don't you take your brothers bag upstairs to your room?" EJ said to Johnny.

"Then come back down and I'll make you guys some breakfast." Angela added.

"Okay." Johnny jumped off the floor and grabbed Will's duffle bag by the straps and began slowly climbing the stairs, awkwardly dragging the heavy bag behind him.

"Do you need cream or sugar?" She asked Will.

"No black is fine, thanks." He replied as she went back into the Kitchen. Will got up from the floor and sat on the sofa, taking a sip of the hot coffee and warming his bones from sleeping on the couch in the town square the night before. "Thanks for letting me stay here until I find another place, EJ, it shouldn't be long. Are you sure Angela doesn't mind, she doesn't really know me very well."

"You're welcome here as long as you need, William." EJ sat down across from him. "I meant what I said, you're family to us, plus Johnny really loves having you around." EJ snickered at Johnny pulling on the bag. "That thing's as big as he is."

"He seems really happy here, I'm glad he has you, EJ. You're a good dad."

"Thank you, William." EJ said, noticing Will's melancholy expression, "That's… well that's a really nice thing to say. You know, William, if you ever need someone to talk to…"

"Do you mind if I take shower?" Will interrupted him.

"Sure," EJ didn't pressure him, "make yourself at home. There are clean towels and sheets in the linen closet next to the hall bath. Are you sure you don't mind sleeping in the bunk beds with Johnny?"

"No, it's fine. I'm used to his snoring." he teased. Will set his coffee mug on the table and headed to the stairs. "Thanks again, EJ."

Angela came back in and sat down next to EJ as Will climbed the stairs, "He seems like a good kid, it's such a shame about his mother."

"He is. I think William is a great person," EJ agreed, "if only he would let himself believe it, too."

* * *

Sonny entered the pub and looked around for Will but didn't see him. He took a seat at the bar and ordered a cup of coffee. "Is Will working today?" he asked the waitress while she filled his mug.

"He was supposed to," she said. "but he called in sick early this morning."

"Oh… thanks."

"Can I get you a menu?"

"No, just coffee." He said dejectedly, dialing Will's number again. "_Hey, it's Will, leave a message."_ Sonny ran his hand through his hair feeling guilty, "Will, it's Sonny. Look, I get that you don't want to talk to me, but… just call me back…please."

Monday morning Sonny was running late for the first day of classes as he rushed into the large lecture hall for his American Architecture class. He maneuvered his way through the crowd of stragglers at the entrance and took a seat in the back of the auditorium at the first spot he saw. He reached into his backpack for the textbook and accidentally grabbed Will's sketchbook, sighing to himself and checking his phone again, wishing for a returned text or call from Will. He was able to clear his mind long enough to pay attention to the lecture, finally settling his nerves of returning to school. At the end of the class Sonny was putting his stuff back in his bag when he noticed Will quickly walking out the exit on the other side of the room. He jumped out his seat and hurried toward him, "Will!" he called after him. Sonny ran down the stairs of the hall and back up the other side, chasing after Will. "Watch out!" he warned the people in the doorway "Excuse me, coming through. MOVE!" he shouted at the people in front of him. He made his way out of the room in just enough time to see Will jogging around the corner of the next building. "Will, wait!" he called after him again, rounding the corner and running after him. He ran around the building and saw Will way ahead of him running toward the parking lot. He stopped in his tracks and breathed heavy, trying to catch his breath. "Wow, he really doesn't want to talk to me." Sonny smiled and chuckled out loud shaking his head, he couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Will literally running away from him. "You win this time, Horton." He looked at his watch to see how much time he had before his next class, "But I'm coming for you."

Sonny walked out of his last class of the day and started his walk home. He pulled his phone out again and called Will, "_Hey, it's Will, leave a message." _He let out a grunt at the sound of the voicemail message and hung up. "Ugh! I'm going to kill him." He headed through the town square, taking a short cut back to his house and saw Will sitting in the pub, staring at his phone. "I've got you cornered now."

* * *

Will saw Sonny come in the door on the other side of the lecture hall, and quickly scooched down is his chair, hiding behind the large guy in front of him. He sneakily peered around the guy in front of him, trying to figure out if Sonny saw him. Realizing Sonny hadn't noticed him, he relaxed in his chair, still hidden from Sonny's view but able to see him easily. He watched Sonny settle in for class and sat up and smiled wide as Sonny pulled the sketch book from his backpack. "Good, he found it." He thought to himself then frowned as Sonny checked his phone. Will knew he was looking to see if he had called him back. He knew he would have to eventually talk to him, especially since he hoped Sonny would still want to be friends, but he wasn't looking forward to the conversation. Will watched Sonny the entire lecture, not paying attention at all. He realized it was over when the people around him started leaving. "Shit, I have to get out of here before he sees me." He grabbed his bag, and hurried up the steps and out the door, hearing Sonny shout his name. "Fuck, he saw me." Will sped up as Sonny chased after him cutting the corner of the next building as Sonny came out the door behind him. He glanced back and saw Sonny heading his way and sped up again, heading toward the parking lot. He heard Sonny calling after him, stopping to hide behind a concrete light pole at the edge of the parking lot. Glancing back he saw Sonny standing still, catching his breath, shaking his head and smiling in his direction. "You've got to be quicker than that, Kiriakis."

Will pulled open the door to the daycare as the buzzer sounded and greeted the woman behind the counter. "Hi, I'm here for Johnny."

"Sure," she said, smiling at him, "You're name?"

"Will Horton, I'm his brother. His stepmom called this morning and put me on the list."

She scanned through her computer. "Yep, here you are, William Horton, may I see your ID please."

Will showed her his license and waved at Johnny gathering his stuff from a shelf in the large playroom behind the counter and walking toward him. "Hi, Will!" Johnny greeted him cheerily.

"Hey, bud. Did you have a good day?" Will asked, taking Johnny's bag from him and throwing it over his shoulder.

"Uh huh, I made this for you." Johnny handed him a picture he drew of he and Will playing baseball. "I can't draw as good as you yet, though. Do you like it?"

"I love it, John. I'll put it next to the bed so we can look at it, how's that sound?"

Johnny nodded his head and smiled at him, "Can we get a snack? I'm hungry."

Will carefully rolled up Johnny's picture and put it in his backpack. "Sure," he told him, "Let's go to the pub and we'll get you some fries, how about that?"

"Here are your milkshakes." the waitress said, placing the chocolate shakes in front of Will and Johnny, "Your fries will be up in a minute."

"Thank you." Johnny said to her, picking off cherry and shoving it in his mouth.

"Yeah, thanks." Will smiled at her and pulled his phone out of his pocket as it rang, and hit decline again.

"Are you still ignoring your friend?" Johnny asked, sitting up on his knees and sipping on the straw of his milkshake.

"I told you, it's complicated, Johnny."

"No it's not." Johnny said convincingly.

"Yes it is, John. We can't just shake hands. It's grown up stuff."

"No it's not." He said again.

"It _is_."

"No, _it's not_." Johnny said sarcastically.

"Here you go." The waitress said, setting down their French fries. "Be careful, they're hot."

"Yummy!" Johnny reached for a fry.

Will slapped him on the hand, "Go wash your hands first." He told him.

Johnny got down from his chair and headed to the bathroom and Will watched him. "Smart ass." He thought. Maybe Johnny was right, maybe it's not complicated. Maybe Will was just making it complicated. "I just need to tell him the truth." Will picked up his phone and dialed Sonny's number. He stared at the 'Send' button, gathering his nerves. "I can do this."

Sonny opened the door to the pub and blocked the exit. "Don't move!" he shouted at Will.

Will jumped, startled by Sonny bursting in through the door. "Sonny, what are you doing here? I was just calling you."

"I swear to god, Will, if you try to run, I will tackle you…" Sonny dropped his backpack and readied himself to wrestle Will to the ground. "Wait. What? You were calling me?" He asked, standing up straight.

Will held his hands up in surrender, smiling at him. "Yes, I was just calling you." He said motioning to the chair next to him. "Do you want to sit down?"

Sonny picked his bag up off the floor and sat down next to Will. "I've been calling and texting you for two days, why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you, Sonny."

"Will, you literally ran away from me today. You're pretty fast too, by the way." Sonny grinned at him, trying to keep the mood light. "Listen, Will, about the other night, I… well… I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, and I'm really sorry I called you a coward. It's just I…" Sonny stopped abruptly as Johnny came back to the table.

"Hi, who are you?" Johnny asked enthusiastically, sitting back in the chair across from Sonny and propping himself onto his knees.

"Johnny, this is Sonny" Will said, "Sonny, this is my little brother Johnny." He smiled at the confusion on Sonny's face.

Johnny stuck his little hand over the table to Sonny, "Nice to meet you." He said cheerily with a big smile.

"Um… Hi…" Sonny said shaking his hand, "nice to meet you too, Johnny." He glanced to Will, somewhat surprised he never mentioned his brother.

"Are you the friend that he's been ignoring?" Johnny blurt out.

"Jeez, Johnny." Will whined.

Sonny snorted out a laugh. "Uh, yeah." He told him, smiling accusingly again at Will. "I guess I am."

"I told him it was rude to ignore people." Johnny added.

"You're so right, Johnny, it is rude to ignore people." He agreed, still smiling at Will. "But to be fair, I was kind of mean to him."

"But you're sorry, right?" he asked. "That's why you called him."

"Johnny, here," Will reached into his pocket and handed Johnny some one dollar bills, "take these and go play the crane machine so I can talk to Sonny, okay?"

"Okay, but don't eat all the fries." Johnny got down and walked over to the corner of the pub with the crane game.

Sonny watched Johnny walk away and turned back to Will, "That's a pretty smart kid."

Will nodded. "He's a little too smart."

"Why didn't you tell me you had a brother?"

"I don't know, it just never came up. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a big sharer."

"He's right though, you know, I am sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Sonny…"

"Yes, I do, Will. I shouldn't have accused you of being secretive and closed off when I'm clearly not ready to talk about things in my past. It's hypocritical and I'm sorry. I really am."

"Thanks, but I shouldn't have mentioned James, it's none of my business." Will sat up and leaned on the table, closer to Sonny. "I saw pictures of you and him in your photo album the other night, you guys looked happy, and…" Will paused as he noticed Sonny's expression change. "I'm sorry, like I said, it's none of my business."

"No, it's okay," Sonny reassured him. "Yeah, we were happy, but… well, that was a long time ago."

They sat there quietly for a few minutes exchanging apologetic looks. Sonny broke silence, "So, can I ask now why you stood me up?"

Will took a deep breath and wrung his hands through his hair, preparing himself. "Alright, here goes." he started, "You see, um…okay… Johnny is my half brother, same mom, different dad. Right now he lives with his dad because our mom…" Will paused, thinking of the right way to tell him.

Sonny looked on with concerned confusion.

"Okay… remember how I told you I lived with my grandmother until I was six?"

"Sure, yeah." Sonny nodded.

"Well, my parents were really young when they had me, my mom got pregnant in high school and well, she just wasn't prepared to be a mom and she and my dad took off. So my grandmother raised me and I never knew my parents. Anyway, when I was six, my grandmother died and the court put me in a foster home until they could find my parents." Will looked to Sonny, who was still listening intently. "So eventually they track down my mom and hand me over." Will grit his teeth in disgust, "They hand a six year old over to a drug addict mom he had never met, how fucked up is that?"

"That's…" Sonny wasn't sure what to say. He could see the pain in Will's eyes as he spoke. "Yeah, that's messed up. What about your dad, where was he?"

"He was In and out, my whole life. He would come back and they would be together for a couple months or a year, but it always ended the same way, they would get drunk or high constantly then cheat on each other. It never changed. Then my mom came home pregnant from another man with Johnny and that was pretty much the end."

"What about you?" he asked.

"That's my point, Sonny. What about me?" Will said. "When I was young, my friend T's mom got me enrolled in school and sports and stuff and looked out for me, but I've pretty much raised myself. They never cared about me." Will sat silently, watching Sonny absorb all he has just heard. "Well?"

"Well what? Why would you be afraid to tell me that?"

"Don't you think it's messed up?"

"Yes, Will, I do, and I'm really sorry you had to go through that, but…"

"I don't want your pity, Sonny."

"It's not pity Will. It's the exact opposite." Sonny leaned closer to him. "I admire you. I mean, despite what life through at you, here you are; this smart, confident, talented guy."

"I'm not any of those things, it's all an act." Will said, sniffling.

"I don't believe that. Will, all those things your parents did. The people they are, that's not you." Sonny reached down and pulled the sketch book from his backpack and placed it on the table in front of Will. "This," Sonny said tapping on the book, "this is you."

Will smiled at him with the sketch book. "You found it, good. Do you like it?"

"Like it? It's incredible. How did you do this? It's like you read my mind." Sonny said, dumbfounded. "Seriously, it's exactly how I pictured it; every last little detail is perfect. How did you know?"

"I don't know, I just paid attention to you." Will told him, "I saw the colors you wear, the furniture you like, your style, I just figured it out. Plus, some of it is my ideas, like the fireplace carvings and the millwork, are just stuff I like."

"You see?" Sonny picked up the book and showed it to him "This. Someone who would take the time to do something like this for another person is selfless and generous and kind." Sonny set the book back down and took Will's hand in his. "That's you Will. I don't know how you don't see that." Sonny looked into his blue eyes and leaned in to kiss him.

Will pulled back from his kiss. "Sonny, I'm sorry."

"No… it's okay… I just thought… I guess I thought we were good now." he said confused.

"We are, we're good, Sonny, but…"

"You don't want to be with me."

"Not like that, no. Not yet." Will said.

"Not yet?"

"Look, Sonny. I like you, I really, really do." Will put his hand over Sonny's, "But, with my parents and my last relationship, I just have things I need to work through first." Will didn't want to hurt Sonny, but he needed him to know how he really felt.

"Your last relationship?" Sonny asked.

"Cole."

"Oh." Sonny remembered the night he first saw Will, "The guy you beat up."

"Yeah, not my proudest moment."

"What happened with him?"

"We dated for about 8 months. I loved him, or at least I thought I did." Will said. "And he told me he loved me and I believed him. He is the only guy I ever, you know…" Will shrugged shyly, "…let _top_ me."

Sonny nodded with understanding. "But he didn't love you?"

"No, he was cheating on me the entire time we were together. It made me feel like an idiot."

"You're not an idiot, he is."

"I know that now. But, Sonny, that relationship, along with my messed up home life, has left me with some serious trust issues, in case you haven't noticed. Do you understand?" Will hoped he did, he had never been this honest and open with anyone before.

Sonny sighed knowingly. "I understand. Yeah, I get it but you can't live your whole life like that, Will."

"I know, and I don't want to." Will noticed Johnny heading back over. "I want to change, but I could use some help from a friend. And you still need help with the house right?"

Sonny nodded and smiled.

"So what do you say, Sonny? Friends?"

"Did you guys make up?" Johnny asked, sitting back down in his chair.

"What's that Johnny?" Sonny asked.

"When we have and argument in class, the Teacher makes us shake hands and make up so we stay friends." He told Sonny.

Will stood up and stuck his hand out, smiling wide at Sonny, "Well Sonny? Friends?"

Johnny looked up to his brother and turned to Sonny, nodding and giving him and encouraging look.

Sonny shook his head snickered at the two of them, knowing full well this was more than it seemed. He stood up slowly and shook Will's hand, grinning back. "Yep, Friends."


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm back! Sorry for the long absence guys. I went on vacation earlier in the month and have been catching up with work ever since, so no time to sit down and write. Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to review and read my stories, I can't say enough how flattering you all are. I try to say thanks to everyone who comments, but if I miss someone just know that I appreciate all the kind words. Also, thank you to all of you who follow me or my stories. Cheers to you all! Hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll try to get the next one up quicker! RTR! **

* * *

"I'm bored. Can we go eat lunch now?"

"Can you please stop whining? You've been bitching since we got here." Will complained.

"Well you guys lied to me, what do you expect?"

"Lisa, we didn't lie to you." Sonny told her, "We said we were going shopping."

"This is not shopping," Lisa said condescendingly, "Where are the racks of clothes, the purses and jewelry, the complimentary drinks and stuff? All I see is work machines and floor pieces."

Abigail chuckled and corrected her. "Tools and tiles, sweetie."

"Whatever." Lisa pouted.

The four of them walked through the aisles of the home store. Will was leaning on the handle of a pushcart, guiding it along behind Sonny and Abigail. Lisa shuffled along behind him in heels way too tall for a home store, grumbling to herself and annoyed at being there altogether. As she walked behind him she noticed Will's eyes never left Sonny. Every move Sonny made, every step he took, Will was watching and smiling, just gazing at him.

They stopped in the flooring aisle and Sonny picked up a sample of each of the two tiles he and Will had narrowed their choice down to. He handed one to Abigail, "Okay, that one is the travertine," he motioned to the tile she was holding, "and this is the porcelain one." He held it up to show her. "What do you think? Which one do you like?"

Lisa kept watching Will as Sonny and Abigail talked. She smiled at herself knowingly as his expression never changed. His blue eyes were bright and clear, focused intently on Sonny, and a slight smile plastered on his lips.

"They look like the same tile to me." Abigail said, "What's the difference?"

"The travertine has a little more grey in it and is more polished. See?" Sonny tilted the tile toward the light.

"Oh, I see it now." Abigail said. "I don't know though, which one do you like?"

"I like the travertine but Will likes the porcelain one." Sonny told her.

"I like them both, Sonny." Will said, "I just said that the travertine is softer and has to be sealed like once a year or it will stain. The porcelain is more durable and since we're putting it in the Kitchen, it's a better choice."

"I don't know…" Sonny pondered the two tiles again, unable to make a decision.

Will smiled again at him. "Well, it's your house, your choice." He told him. "I'm going to go get the grout and mortar and stuff. I'll be back."

Sonny looked up and nodded at him, "Alright, I'll wait for you here." then turned his attention back to the tiles.

Will walked off, pushing the cart in front of him and looking back to Sonny as he left, gazing again. Lisa watched him curiously. "I'm going with Will." she said, then hurried off after him.

"Okay." Abigail responded then turned back to Sonny, still examining the tiles. "So, I haven't seen you in a while, Cuz. What's new?"

"Nothing really, been busy with school. Plus, Will and I have been working on the house pretty much in all of our free time the last few weeks." Sonny examined the tiles some more, not looking up and answering nonchalantly.

"Annnd?" She asked.

"Annnd, what?" Sonny mimicked her tone.

"Come on, Sonny." She said with exasperation "What's up with you and Will, how's that going?"

"How's what going? We're friends."

"That's it? Just friends?"

"Yes. We decided that we're better that way and… it's been really good."

"So, you don't have feelings for him anymore?"

Sonny ignored the question and let out an annoyed sigh. He laid the tiles on the floor and stood over them, looking at them from different angles. He looked up and smiled at the girl with a smock and nametag approaching them.

"Hi, I'm Christine. Do you guys need any help?" she asked them.

"We're good, thanks. Just looking." Sonny replied politely.

"Okay." She said cheerily. "Let me know if you change your mind." He smiled again at her as she walked away.

"Sonny?" Abigail waited for an answer to her previous question.

Sonny glared at her, his face imploring her to change the subject. "We're friends, Abi, that's it." He said emphatically, hoping he was convincing enough.

Abigail held her hands up in surrender. "Okay, I'll drop it."

* * *

Ryan stacked tubs of drywall spackle on the shelf, carefully lining them up with the labels facing out. He turned his head to see Christine standing next to him, smiling and swaying back and forth like she was keeping a secret. "What?" he asked curiously, returning her smile.

"There's a really cute guy in flooring looking at tiles, and I'm pretty sure he's gay." She told him, singing the last part of her sentence.

Ryan chuckled at her and shook his head. "And how do you know he's gay? You're gaydar kind of sucks."

"Well, he didn't look at my boobs. So…"

Ryan rolled his eyes, "Can't argue with that logic." he teased her.

"Trust me, he's gay. I'm wearing my push up bra, if he was straight he would have noticed these puppies." she adjusted her breasts, opening her shirt up to expose more cleavage.

"Classy" he teased her again. "What do you want me do exactly?"

"Just go ask him if he needs help, flirt with him a little." She said impatiently, "God Ryan, haven't you ever hit on anyone before? You are like the worst gay guy ever."

"Here, finish this." Ryan handed her the tub of spackle he was holding, knowing her well enough to know that she wouldn't stop bugging him until he at least talked to the guy. "I'm going to go help a _customer _because that's my _job_." He said sarcastically.

"Wait." She put the tub of spackle on the shelf and turned to him. She straightened the collar on his shirt and played with the front of his hair.

Ryan slapped her hands away from his face. "Would you stop!" He walked away mumbling under his breath "Pain in my ass." Ryan walked down to the flooring aisle and turned the corner, stopping in his tracks when he saw Sonny. He watched as Sonny walked around the tiles lying on the ground and smiled at the sight of Sonny's bicep flexing as he scratched the back of his head. "Wow, he is cute." He blew into his hand to check his breath, crossed his fingers behind his back and walked over to them, repeating silently to himself. "Please be gay, please be gay."

"Hey. Need some help?" He asked Sonny.

* * *

Will picked a bag of mortar off the shelf and set in down on the cart, noticing that Lisa was staring at him strangely. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Just looking." Lisa said.

He grinned at her and picked up another bag of mortar. "Well stop it, you're freaking me out."

Lisa watched Will loading the cart up with supplies, smiling and humming to himself. "You're in good mood, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess. Why?"

"No reason." She watched him again, studying his expression then figured it out. "So, you and Sonny seem to have gotten pretty close."

"Yeah, we've been spending a lot of time together, you know, working on the house." Will pushed the cart a little down the aisle, searching the shelf for the color grout Sonny wanted.

Lisa followed him along, still trying to read his expression.

"You're doing it again." He grumbled to her. "Stop staring at me."

"Sorry." She said, but still stared at him intently.

Will stopped and turned to face her, giving her his full attention. "Alright, what?" he asked in frustration.

"Huh?" she feigned innocence.

"You obviously have something to tell me or ask me, so just do it so you can stop eyeballing me."

"Okay, fine." Lisa conceded, her entire sentence came out in one breath. "You and Sonny slept together, but you haven't done it again, and now you've spent like every day and every night together for the past month."

Will shrugged at her with confusion "Was there a question in there?"

"YES! The question is why aren't you two dating?" She blurt out.

Will let out an aggravated sigh and went back to searching the shelf for the grout. "We're better as friends." He said dismissively.

"Really?" She replied, unconvinced of his explanation. "And you're okay with that? Just being friends."

Will disregarded her question, knowing full well he wanted more with Sonny. He'd regretted ever telling him they should just be friends, but his fears and insecurity kept him back. However he felt about Sonny though, he knew better than to share that with Lisa and her big mouth. Will grabbed a bag of grout off the shelf and put it on the cart with annoyed thud. He picked up another bag and dropped it with another thud, glaring at her crossly.

"Well?" she questioned.

"Lisa, how is it any of your business?" he snapped at her.

Lisa spoke matter of factly, "It's my business because you two are my friends and you should be together, you're perfect for each other."

Will ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "Can you just stop, please?" he pleaded her, "Sonny and I are friends, and that's all we're going to be."

"You know I'm right, Will. I've seen the way you look at him. You get this stupid grin on your face every time he's around."

Will couldn't help himself when she said that, his thoughts went right to Sonny. Suddenly, a stupid happy grin spread across his lips.

"See!" Lisa shoved him playfully.

Will shook his head from thoughts of Sonny and back to Lisa. "Look, it doesn't matter, anyway. That window has closed. We're friends, and I'm good with that." He tried to convince her. "Why am I telling you this anyway?" He turned back to the searching the shelf for supplies.

"You can tell yourself whatever you need to, Will" Lisa told him, "but I know you want to be more than friends."

Will looked over the cart, making sure he had everything he needed. "Alright, I've got everything. Let's go." He pushed the cart along, heading back to the flooring aisle and Sonny.

"You need to tell him how you feel, Will."

"Lisa, I'm not going to say it again, drop it." He said harshly.

"All I'm saying is Sonny is a great guy, if you wait too long; it's going to be too late."

Will shook his head at her, "Thanks for the advice, but I'll take my…" they turned the corner to the flooring aisle, Will looked up to see Sonny talking and flirting with a cute store employee. "…chances."

* * *

Sonny grabbed some more of each of the tiles from the shelf and laid them on the floor in a pattern, taking up most of the space in the aisle.

"What are you doing?" Abigail asked, somewhat embarrassed, looking around to make sure no one was looking.

"I want to see what they look like all together." He said, arranging them like the pattern in Will's sketch.

"I don't think the store wants you to do that." Abigail complained.

"I'm not buying all this tile without seeing what it looks like on the ground." Sonny stood in the middle of the tile and stared down at them, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey. Need some help?"

Sonny jumped a little, startled by the employee. He looked up to see a cute face behind bright green eyes staring back at him, smiling. His tousled wavy brown hair shone in the fluorescent lights above and a dark five o'clock shadow halfway hid a small scar on his perfect chin. Sonny was suddenly taken aback by the stunning guy in front of him. "Um… what?" he managed to get out

"Need some help?" Ryan asked again, smiling and motioning to the tiles on the ground. "Or do you just go around redecorating random home stores?"

Sonny cheeks flushed with a tinge of embarrassment. "Sorry, I'll put them all back, I promise. I just wanted to see what they looked like on the ground, you know?"

"Sure, I get it." Ryan crossed his arms over his broad chest and stood next to Sonny, looking down at the tiles with him. "You don't want to buy all the tiles first and not know if it's going to work in the space when you get home."

Sonny nodded with surprise. "Exactly."

"What room are you redoing?"

"The Kitchen." Sonny told him.

Ryan rubbed his scruffy chin in thought, staring down at the tiles. "Alright, come with me." He said to Sonny then started walking off. When Sonny didn't follow, he stopped and turned back around, waving him over with his hand. "Come on." Sonny looked over to Abigail and shrugged with confusion. Abigail shrugged back, equally confused. Ryan turned around again to Sonny, "Seriously, come on."

Sonny followed the cute guy two aisles over to the Kitchen displays. Ryan stopped in front of a display of Kitchen islands, and stood on one end of one of them. Sonny stopped at the opposite end of the cabinet, across from Ryan. "What are we doing?" he asked him.

"Pick up that end." Ryan told him and bent down to pick up his side.

"Why?" Sonny asked, still confused.

"We're going to put it with the tile you laid out so you can see it with a cabinet, it will give you a better idea of the finished room."

Sonny thought about it for a second. "That's actually a really good idea."

"I know." Ryan replied with a smile and a playful cockiness to his tone. "You gonna pick it up, or should I get someone who can handle it?"

Sonny bit the inside of his cheek and grinned back at Ryan, finding himself surprisingly charmed by the guy's confidence. "No…" Sonny shot back at him with a cockiness of his own. "I got it." Sonny bent down and picked up his side of the cabinet, it was heavier than he imagined but there was no way he was going to put it back down. They walked the cabinet carefully back over to the flooring aisle and set it down on top of the tiles. Sonny let go of his side as the laid it on the grown and could feel his muscles twitch as he let go.

"You good?" Ryan asked.

"Piece of cake." Sonny said through heavy breaths, rubbing his upper arm.

Ryan smirked at him again and they turned their attention back to the tile and cabinet. "Well, what do you think? Does that help your decision?" Ryan asked him.

"I still don't know." Sonny said, walking around the cabinet. "Abi, what do you think?"

Abigail walked around the cabinet herself, examining the tiles again. "I still don't see a difference." She said.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Ryan interrupted.

"Please."

"It's for the Kitchen right?"

"Yeah." Sonny replied.

"I would go with the porcelain. It's more durable and less expensive." Ryan fixed his green eyes on Sonny as he talked. "The travertine looks great but it chips easier if you drop something and it can stain. Plus, with the porcelain, you don't have to seal it."

Sonny nodded absentmindedly as Ryan talked, fixed on the lights reflected in green eyes. "You know, that makes a lot of sense." Sonny agreed. "You convinced me, I'm going to do the porcelain." Sonny stuck his hand out to him. "Thanks…um?"

Ryan took his hand and shook it, "Ryan." He told him.

"I'm Sonny. Thanks Ryan."

"No problem, I'm glad to help." Ryan turned to Abigail and stuck his hand out to her. "And you are?"

She shook his hand. "Abigail."

"Girlfriend?"

Abigail and Sonny chuckled at him. "Cousin." They said at the same time.

"Oh." Ryan let out an internal sigh of relief. "So, Sonny, a kitchen remodel is a big job. Are you doing it by yourself or do you have any help? You know… a girlfriend… or a boyfriend maybe?" he asked somewhat bashfully.

Abigail snickered again under her breath, "Subtle."

"No, I don't have a boyfriend right now." Sonny told him with a toothy smile. "My best friend Will is helping me with the house. He's really good at this kind of stuff." Sonny swallowed nervously and scratched the back of his head again, trying not to look directly at Ryan. "Um, what about you? Do you have anyone that...helps you out… you know… with stuff?"

Ryan grinned at Sonny's nervousness, "Nope, single." Their eyes connected, exchanging an unspoken attraction.

* * *

"Who the fuck is that?" Will and Lisa stood at the other end of the aisle watching the exchange between Ryan and Sonny.

"I don't know, but he has an apron on, so I'm guessing he works here." Lisa answered.

"Is he seriously flirting with Sonny?" Will asked, incredulously.

"Why, are you jealous?" Lisa teased.

Will let out an annoyed breath. "No, I'm not jealous." he replied feebly, "It's just…Umm." He was at a loss for words, "It's just it's… um… It's.."

"It's what, Will?"

"It's…unprofessional!" He exclaimed. "That's what it is, it's unprofessional. I mean the guy is at work, he shouldn't be flirting with customers."

"Oh, yeah. You're totally right." Lisa crossed her arms and made a sarcastic angry face. "How dare a cute single guy flirt with another cute single guy? It's appalling. I mean doesn't he know that his best friend has a secret crush on him? I mean the nerve of some people."

Will gave her another cross look, "Shut up." He spat at her and quickly pushed the cart toward Sonny. He pushed and ran down the aisle too fast and built up a little too much momentum, having to pull the heavy cart to a quick stop before it crashed into the shelves. "Hey, what's up?" Will asked breathlessly, coming up behind Sonny. "Are we done here?"

Sonny turned away from Ryan's eyes as Will jumped up behind him and wrapped his arm around Sonny's shoulder. "What?" Sonny asked.

"Are we done?" Will repeated. "Did you decide on a tile?"

Sonny stepped slightly to the side, shrugging Will's arm off of his shoulder. "Um, yeah, I did. Ryan here said," Sonny paused and turned to Ryan. "Oh, sorry" he started, "Ryan this is my friend Will. He's the one I mentioned earlier; he's helping me with the house." Sonny turned to Will. "Will, this is Ryan."

Ryan offered his hand to Will, "Nice to meet you, Will."

"Hey." Will said coldly, ignoring the gesture and not shaking his hand. "So which one did you decide on?" he asked Sonny.

"The porcelain." Sonny told him, turning back to Ryan. "Ryan pointed out that it was more durable and was better for the kitchen."

"Yeah, I've told you that like ten times already, Son." Will reminded him.

Sonny was again paying attention to Ryan, not hearing Will. "Hmm? What's that?" he asked Will, still facing Ryan and smiling.

"Nothing." Will sighed.

"Sonny, why don't we go over to the flooring desk and I can put the order in for your tile." Ryan suggested.

"Sure." Sonny pulled out his wallet and handed Will his credit card. "Here, you guys go pay for that stuff and I'll meet you at the car. Cool?"

Will took the card from him. "Yeah, cool." He said dejectedly.

"You alright, bud?" Sonny asked him, sensing something was off.

"Fine…_pal_."

Sonny gave Will a curious look then turned and headed off with Ryan to order the tile. Will watched them walk away, listening to their conversation.

"All we need is your address and phone number and we can deliver the tile right to your house." Ryan said, "And if you want I can give you my number, too. That way if something goes wrong with the delivery you can call me personally. Or you can just call me if you want to hang out, if you'd like to, I mean." Ryan nudged him playfully on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that." Sonny said, nudging hem back.

Lisa walked up behind Will, watching Ryan and Sonny over Will's shoulder. "You need to tell him how you feel, Will. Before it's too late."


	9. Chapter 9

**Here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. We're almost there, I promise! As always, thanks for all the nice comments! Cheers! RTR!**

* * *

Will set the last tile in place in the corner by the rear door of the kitchen then stood up carefully so as to not disturb the layout he and Sonny spent the whole morning dry fitting. "Well, what do you think?" he asked Sonny.

"Looks great." Sonny said, looking at the design they had arranged. "It'll look really good once we get it all down. I like the pattern you thought of too, it was a good idea. "

"Thanks" Will wiped the sweat from his forehead. "We can put it down tonight after class if you want." he suggested.

"We can't tonight, remember?"

Will shook his head and sighed, "Oh, yeah I forgot we were going to the club."

"You really don't want to go do you?" Sonny asked as his phone rang.

"I don't feel like going out, can't we just stay here?" Will grumbled.

"Are you going to tell Abi and Lisa that we're not going?" Sonny asked. "They'll kill you." He looked at the display on his phone and held a finger up to Will. "Hang on a second. It's Ryan."

Will nodded as Sonny turned around to talk to Ryan. He rolled his eyes and silently mockingly mouthed "_Oooh, Ryan_." behind Sonny's back.

"Hey, what's up?" Sonny said into the phone. "Nothing much, Will and I are dry fitting the tile in the Kitchen... Yeah, I had fun last night, too. You suck at bowling, though… No, Sorry. I can't tonight. I already have plans. What about tomorrow?"

Will listened to Sonny's conversation growing more annoyed at himself for not yet telling Sonny that he had feelings for him, and hoping that it was still not too late.

"Okay, I'll text you in the morning then…Great. See you tomorrow, Ryan." Sonny turned back to Will, "Sorry about that."

"No problem." Will said. "So, Ryan huh? How's that going?"

"So far, so good, I guess. We've been out a few times."

"You guys getting serious?"

"I don't know. He's fun to hang out with." Sonny shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable discussing this with Will. "Alright then, I'm going to get in the shower and head to class." he said, changing the subject "So I'll see you tonight?"

Will sighed at him, "I don't know, Sonny, I'm not sure I feel like…"

"Oh! Hang on." Sonny interrupted him and quickly walked into his room, returning immediately with an envelope in his hand. "I almost forgot." he handed Will the envelope "Happy Birthday."

Will's eyes got bright and his smile wide as Sonny handed him the envelope. "Happy Birthday? My birthday is next month. What is this?"

"It's an early birthday present, dummy…" Sonny teased him "…what's it look like?"

"Why?" Will asked. "Sonny, you didn't have to get me anything." He held the envelope to his ear and shook it.

"I know, I wanted to and I didn't want to wait until next month." Sonny smiled at him.

"Yeah?"

"Just open it."

Will carefully peeled back the tab of the envelope back and pulled out the contents. "A plane ticket?" he asked with a puzzling expression.

"Uh huh, do you remember that night we were talking about all the places I've travelled and you kept asking me all kinds of questions?"

Will smiled at the memory and nodded at Sonny. He did remember, they were lying in Sonny's bed after the second time they slept together. It was the most comfortable he had ever felt with another person in his life, he thought to himself.

"You were looking at my tattoos and when I asked you if you had been to any of those places, you said 'No, I haven't been anywhere but I want to go everywhere'." Sonny reminded him.

"You remembered that?"

"Of course I did." Sonny grinned. "It's an open ended ticket, so you can go anywhere you want, anytime you want."

Will stared at the ticket with amazement, shaking his head. "Sonny, I don't…I don't know what to say."

"You don't like it?"

"No, it's not that." Will looked into Sonny's eyes, "This is the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me. But why? I'm mean this must have been crazy expensive."

"Because , Will, you deserve it. Look, I know when we met…" Sonny took a deep breath and searched his mind for the right words. "What I'm trying to say is that I know we got off to a rocky start…"

He chuckled at Sonny's description their first meetings.

Sonny snickered back, "Anyway… you're a great person, Will, and… well I just wanted you to know that I am really glad we ended up friends."

Will grinned wide at Sonny and stepped forward to him, pulling him in to a hug. He wrapped his arms around him and nestled his head on Sonny's shoulder. "Thank you." Will hugged him close.

"You're welcome." Sonny hugged him back then let loose, but Will didn't let go, he just held Sonny closer. Sonny returned the hug, holding him tighter.

Will finally let go and smiled at Sonny again, nodding his head. "Okay, I guess I'm going to go so you can take a shower." He held up the ticket, "Thanks again, Sonny. This is just…" he could not think of a word to describe how much he appreciated Sonny's gift "…thank you." He said and headed toward the door.

"You're welcome, Will. So, I'll see you tonight?"

Will turned back around, "Yeah, I guess. On one condition though."

"What's that?"

"That you finally give me that dance you owe me."

Sonny grinned at him, "Deal."

Will smiled back coyly and slowly closed the door behind him.

Sonny stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. He got dressed and sat on the edge of the bed to pull his shoes on. His mind kept going back to Will's hug earlier and what it meant. Was it just a thank you hug? Why did Will hold on longer when Sonny let go? He picked his backpack off the floor and grabbed his keys and wallet from the bowl on the table next to the door. He put the keys in his pocket, opened up his wallet and pulled a small folded piece of paper from behind his license. He unfolded the paper and read the note Will left weeks earlier, at the bottom was written "_PS – You owe me a dance_". He stared at the note and a smile came over his face at the memory of that night with Will and the thought of dancing with him tonight.

* * *

Sonny walked into the club and made his way toward the back where Lisa, Abigail and Chad were. "Hey guys." He greeted them with a hug and kiss. "Is Will here yet?" As soon as he said it, he felt a hand smack him on the butt.

"Right behind you, Cookie!" Will called out, slapping Sonny on the ass.

Sonny turned around to a bright and cheery Will grinning back at him. "What did I tell you about calling me Cookie?"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Will hugged Sonny hello and then said hi to Chad and the girls. They sat and drank and laughed and joked with each other for a while. Will was thankful for the small table they were at, having to lean against Sonny for the night. After a while talking and catching up with his friends, Will turned to Sonny. "You ready?"

"Ready for what?" Sonny asked, downing the last of his drink.

"You better limber up." Will teased him, and grabbed his glass. "I'm going to get us another drink and then you and I are dancing." He winked at Sonny and nudged him on the shoulder playfully.

Sonny laughed at him, "What is with you tonight?"

"Nothing, I'm in a good mood and I want to dance with my best friend. You got a problem with that?"

Sonny held his hands up in mock surrender. "No problem here, officer."

Will grinned back at him as he went to the bar to get their drinks, Lisa followed after him. Will set the empty glasses on the bar, "Can I get two more rum and cokes with lime and lots of ice?" he asked the bartender.

Lisa sidled up beside him and gave him a curious look. "You're in a good mood."

"Yes, I am." Will agreed.

"But you're never in good mood, Will. Remember?"

"I am tonight." Will smirked at her and waggled his eyebrows.

"What's tonight?" Lisa questioned. "Oh wait, did you tell him?" She squealed excitedly, jumping up and down in tiny hops and letting off a deluge of questions. "Does he like you too? Are you two together now? Did you have sex again? Was is good? Are you going to get married? OOH! Can I be your best man…I mean woman? I can wear a tuxedo! I bet I would look good dressed as a man."

Will stared at her with a look of horrified bewilderment. "What is wrong with you?"

"Sorry, I'm just excited for you two." She giggled at him.

"Well, calm down. I haven't told him yet."

"Oh." Lisa said, clearly disappointed.

"What I was going to say, before you freaked the fuck out, was that I'm going to tell him tonight. Right now, while were dancing."

"Aww, Will. I'm so happy for you guys."

The bartender sat their drinks on the bar and Will picked them up and turned to Lisa. "Thanks, but I'm not sure how he feels yet. So, don't get ahead of yourself." Will told her.

"I know, but I'm sure he feels the same way. I can just tell."

"I hope so." Will replied, grinning wide at Lisa. "It's been a long time since I've had these kinds of feelings for someone."

Lisa looked at him and smiled back, shaking her head. "Look at you, Will. I've never seen you like this. I think this is the first time you and I have ever had a real conversation."

"I know, it's weird, right? I guess I'm more comfortable opening up now."

"Because of Sonny?"

Will took a sip of his drink and smirked at Lisa knowingly. "Come on, let's get back. I feel like dancing." They made their way back to the table. "Do me a favor, and keep your mouth shut until I tell him, please?"

"I'll try." Lisa assured him bumping into his back as Will suddenly stopped. "What's the matter?" She asked, noticing Will's face drop as he looked toward their table. She glanced over to where Will was looking and saw Sonny at the table, talking with Ryan. "Shit."

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Sonny asked, hugging Ryan hello.

"I'm here with some friends from work." Ryan told him, motioning over to another table where his friends sat. "What are you doing here?"

"Same thing, out with friends." Sonny said. "You remember my cousin Abigail, and this is her boyfriend Chad."

"Nice you see you guys." Ryan said, shaking Chad's hand.

Will watched on while Sonny and Ryan talked and laughed with each other. Sonny looked happy Will thought, and he began second guessing himself, thinking it would be selfish to bring up his feelings for Sonny again, seeing as how it had not gone well the first time around. If he confessed his feelings and Sonny didn't feel the same way, he thought he might lose his friend. He would rather have Sonny as a friend than nothing at all. He walked over to the table and handed Sonny his drink. "Here you go." He said, trying to act as cheery as before.

"Thanks" Sonny replied, taking the drink from Will. "Look who's here, Will. You remember Ryan right?"

"Sure, how's it going Ryan?" Will shook Ryan's hand, thinking to himself that this guy could not have worse timing.

"Hey, Will. Good to see you again." he offered.

"Thanks, you too." Will replied through a fake smile. "You here by yourself?"

"No, I'm with some friends. I just happened to see Sonny and came over to say hello and ask him if he wanted to dance with me." Ryan turned his attention to smiling Sonny. "Well? Do you want to dance?"

"Sure…" Sonny said hesitantly, glancing over to Will. "…but I sort of promised Will that I would dance with him. Right?"

"Yeah, but its, um… it's fine, Sonny. It's okay." Will tried to hide his disappointment, keeping his false smile on his face, convinced that he had lost his opportunity with Sonny.

Sonny thought back to earlier, the only condition Will had for going tonight was to dance with him. He thought back to the note Will left for him, the note that Sonny has kept in his wallet for weeks. "Are you sure, Will? I mean I thought you wanted to…"

"I'm sure." Will interrupted. "You guys go ahead."

"Great!" Ryan grabbed Sonny's hand and pulled him to the dance floor. "Thanks, Will."

Will watched as Sonny and Ryan danced. He downed the rest his drink, unable to hide his regret any longer and his false smile faded away.

Lisa had sat there quietly, listening to the whole conversation and noticed the change in Will's demeanor as Ryan led Sonny away. "I'm so sorry, Will." she consoled him.

Will frowned and shook his head, "It's okay. I guess I have my answer though." He watched from the table as Ryan and Sonny danced. "He doesn't feel the same way. To him, we're just friends."

"You don't know that, Will, you still need to tell him."

"No, it's too late." he conceded.

"He deserves to know. Wouldn't you want to know if it was you?"

"Drop it, Lisa." Will said harshly, still watching Sonny. "This is my decision. Besides, look at him, he looks happy." Will kept his eyes on them as they danced, hanging his head and sighing as Ryan and Sonny held each other closer when a slow song came on.

"You okay?" Ryan asked Sonny as the swayed together to the music.

"Yeah, fine why?"

"You just seem distracted. Did you want to dance with Will?"

"No it's alright. I'm having a good time with you." Sonny reassured him.

"It's just, I know you and Will are really close and you promised him a dance. If you would rather be with him…"

"Be with him?" Sonny asked.

"Look, Sonny, I like you. You're a lot of fun." Ryan said. "And is doesn't hurt that you're cute as hell…" Sonny snickered at Ryan's compliment. "…but sometimes I get the feeling that there may be something between you and him."

"Ryan, Will and I are just friends." Sonny told him. "But, to be totally honest with you, when we first met there was something more between us, but that never went anywhere. We just don't work that way." Sonny didn't think that Ryan needed the details of his and Will's early relationship, or that they had slept together. "Are you okay with that?" he asked him.

"Yeah, I am. I just don't want to get in anybody's way."

"You're not." Sonny told him, resting his chin on Ryan's shoulder as the music played around them. "Like I said, Will and I are just friends."

"Good. Because I don't think that I want to share you." Ryan repeated Sonny's action and laid his chin on his shoulder, wrapping his arms around him tighter.

They swayed in slow circles on the dance floor. Each time they turned Sonny would look at Will. He felt a remorseful twinge at the sight of a dejected Will being consoled by Lisa. Were he and Will just friends Sonny wondered? Maybe he was just trying to convince Ryan that they were, or was he trying to convince himself?


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi all! Here is the first part of the next chapter. I'm still writing the rest of it but it was getting really long so I decided to split it up into two parts. That way I could get something up tonight and you wouldn't have to wait a couple more days. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. You might want to grab the tissues. Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, I really like reading your comments. Cheers! RTR!**

* * *

Ryan and Sonny sat across from each other eating lunch in a booth at the town square diner before going to see a movie that afternoon. Sonny swatted Ryan's hand away when he reached over to steal a french fry off of his plate. "Hey! Don't touch my fries." Sonny teased him. "I will cut you."

"Ow!" Ryan pulled his hand away and smirked at Sonny. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was dating a potato hoarder."

"Well, now you do." He grinned, teasing him again. Sonny picked his phone up off of the table as the massage alert chimed and looked at the display. "Damn." He muttered and set the phone back down.

"Problem?" Ryan asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"No, it's just my mom."

"You were expecting someone else?"

"Yeah, Will. I haven't seen him since the other night at the club. I left him a couple messages but he hasn't got back to me yet."

"Maybe he just got busy with school?" Ryan suggested.

Sonny thought back to the other night and Will's face as he and Ryan danced, he couldn't help but think that Will was avoiding him. "You're probably right." Sonny agreed.

"So tell me again about this weekend. We're going camping?"

"Sort of" Sonny took a bite of his turkey wrap. "It's up by the lake, there's going to be a bonfire and some music and beer. Some people are staying the night, but we don't have to if you don't want."

"Do you not want to stay the night?" Ryan asked, hoping for the chance to finally be with Sonny overnight.

"No… no… we can stay. I mean, I have a small tent I can bring."

"Yeah, bring it." Ryan said, winking and smiling at him "You, a fire and a cozy little tent. That sounds like a pretty good weekend actually."

Sonny halfheartedly grinned at Ryan's comment and checked his phone again to see if Will left a message or called.

Ryan watched him check and was a little hurt that Sonny practically ignored his comment about spending the night with him and was more concerned about Will. "It didn't ring." He offered, thinking he was reading too much into it. After all, Sonny had said that he and Will were just friends.

"I know. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just worried."

"I'm sure he's fine."

Sonny gave him an appreciative look. "Thanks." he said as he noticed Angela over Ryan's shoulder, walking into the diner. "Angela!" Sonny called out to her. "Over here!"

"Who's that?" Ryan asked, turning to look over his shoulder.

"It's Will's brother's stepmom. Will's been staying with them." Sonny told him, waving Angela over.

"Sonny! Hi, how are you?" Angela greeted him.

"I'm good, thanks." Sonny replied, turning to Ryan. "Angela, this is my friend Ryan."

"Nice, to meet you." Ryan said, shaking her hand. "My _friend_ Ryan?" he wondered to himself, is that how Sonny sees him?

'Hey, have you seen Will today? I haven't been able to get in touch with him." Sonny asked her.

"He didn't tell you?" Angela asked.

"Tell me what?"

"His deposition is today. He's at the courthouse right now."

"That's today?" Sonny sat back in the booth with a concerned look on his face. "I wonder why he didn't say anything?" he asked himself.

Angela looked at her watch, "Sorry, Sonny. But I only have a little bit of time to get back to work. It was good seeing you." She said. "Nice meeting you, Ryan."

"You too." Ryan said as Angela walked away. "What deposition?" he asked Sonny, taking another bite of his sandwich.

Sonny sat silently, staring off into the air and trying to figure out why Will didn't tell him about the deposition today. They have talked about the situation with Will and his mom before and Sonny knew that having to testify against his mother was weighing on Will heavily, even though he knew it was the right thing to do for Johnny. Sonny was preoccupied with his thoughts and did not realize Ryan was talking. "Huh?"

"I asked you what Will was giving a deposition about." He said. "Are you okay? You look kind of pale."

"No. I'm fine. Will's um…" Sonny stopped mid sentence and got silent again, still trying to figure out why Will didn't tell him.

"Sonny?"

"Hmm?" he replied, looking up at Ryan.

"You just stopped talking."

"Oh, yeah…sorry. Will is testifying against his mother in his brother's custody case."

"Against his mother? Ouch, that sucks. What happened?"

"A lot of stuff, actually. Sami is basically a train wreck. She's an addict and alcoholic and well, a whole bunch of other stuff. Will is trying to keep Johnny away from the kind of childhood he had."

"Wow, I can't imagine how tough that has to be." Ryan said. "But, it does explain a lot about Will."

"Yeah, it's been really hard on him." Sonny added, "Wait, what did you mean by that?"

"What?"

"That comment about '_it explains a lot about Will'_. What does that mean?" Sonny asked defensively.

"Nothing, I just meant that I can understand now why Will can be sort of standoffish and... you know, unfriendly."

"He's not like that." Sonny insisted.

"Sonny, I'm not trying to offend him but, I don't think he's said more than five words to me the whole time we've been dating."

"You just have to get to know him, that's all. He's really a sweet guy and super talented. Did I ever tell you he designed the entire house for me?"

"Yes, you showed me the sketches." Ryan reminded him. "Look, Sonny, I didn't mean anything by it. I was just making a comment that I get it. I'm sorry if I upset you."

"You didn't upset… never mind. I'm sorry. I know you didn't mean anything." Sonny reassured him, hoping he did not hurt Ryan's feelings.

"That's okay, he's your friend. I understand." Ryan reached across the table and took Sonny's hand. "Don't worry about it."

They finished their lunch in a palpable silence, Sonny kept going back to Will in his mind and how hard today and having to testify must be on him. They left the diner and were walking hand in hand to the movie theatre when Sonny suddenly stopped. "Hold up a second." He said, gently pulling Ryan back by the hand as he kept walking.

"What's up?" Ryan asked, turning back to him.

"Would you mind if I skipped the movie?"

"No that's fine, we don't have to go. What do you want to do instead?"

Sonny sighed regretfully, "That's the thing, umm… I think I should to go find Will." Sonny told him.

"Will? Why?"

"I just think someone should be there for him today. You know, in case he needs someone to talk to after the hearing." Sonny took Ryan's other hand in his. "Is that okay? Do you understand?"

Ryan took in a deep breath and shook his head gently, trying to bury his frustration. "If that's what you want."

"I'm really sorry, Ryan…"

"No, it's okay. I get it." Ryan tried to assure him. "You're a good friend, Sonny. I hope that Will realizes how lucky he is."

"Ryan…" Sonny said apologetically, knowing he'd hurt his feelings.

"Really, it's fine, Sonny. Go ahead." Ryan gave him a kiss and hugged him. "I'll see you later."

"Thanks" He hugged Ryan tight. "I'll call you tonight, okay?"

Ryan grinned and nodded his head.

"And don't forget about the bonfire this weekend." Sonny reminded him.

"Can't wait." Ryan called out, smiling and waving to Sonny as he walked away. Ryan stood in the middle of the town square watching Sonny as he left, feeling confused and unsure. "What aren't you telling me, Sonny?" he asked himself.

* * *

Will pushed open the courthouse door and walked out into the chilly autumn dusk. He loosened his tie and yawned, wiping his welling eyes to clear them from the emotions of the past few hours. He'd done what he had to give Johnny the life he never had, but in doing so had closed the door to his mother, even for all her many faults, she was still his mom. All he wanted to do at this moment was be with Sonny, but after the other night he knew it was too late. Besides, he had avoided Sonny since and was sure he was probable angry with him for not returning his calls. Then there was Ryan, Sonny was with Ryan now. He ambled down the steps of the courthouse, suddenly feeling alone when he heard his voice.

"Will!" Sonny called from behind him.

He turned around to see Sonny on the other side of the parking lot. As soon as he saw him, all the tension and emotion of the day Will had been suppressing came to the surface. He walked toward Sonny quickly as the tears started to escape his eyes.

"Angela told me. I hope that's okay." Sonny told him as Will approached.

"I can't believe you're here." He said, picking up his pace and collapsing into Sonny's arms.

Sonny stumbled back at the weight of Will falling into him. He steadied himself as Will wrapped his arms around him, buried his face in his neck and began to sob. He was taken aback at the openness of emotions coming from Will. They'd argued and fought with each other before, but he had never seen Will cry. Instinctively he held Will tight, trying to comfort him. "I'm here. It's okay." He whispered to him. Sonny held Will tight until he stopped. Will wiped his eyes on his forearm and held onto Sonny longer, eventually letting loose.

"Sorry. I guess I've been holding that in a while." He said wiping his eyes some more.

"That's okay. Are you alright now?" Sonny asked him as they sat down on the curb next to each other.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Did it not go well? Is that why you're upset?"

"No. It went fine… or you know, how it was supposed to go. EJ's attorney just asked me a bunch of questions about my mom when I was growing up and I… I just told the truth."

"That must have been hard."

"Sami just sat there with this look on her face like I was lying, like I was making it all up. Rolling her eyes at the judge when I told them about being taken by child services, about the drugs and drinking…" Will's face turned angry and tears fell again as the continued "… about the time she was high as fuck and fell asleep on the couch with a lit cigarette and caught the sofa on fire. She told me it was my fault for going to bed and not watching her. So what did she do? She came into my room and put a cigarette out on my stomach while I was sleeping. '_That'll teach you'_ she told me. I was eight years old! Fucking eight!" he cried. Will buried his face in his hands and started to sob again.

Sonny wrapped his arm around Will's shoulder and consoled him some more. "I so sorry, Will. I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

Will leaned his head on Sonny's shoulder. "You want to know what the worst part is?"

"I can't imagine."

"I don't hate her. I want to and I should, I've even told her I hate her. But I don't. Why don't I hate her?"

"She's your mom, that's why." Sonny pulled him in closer, nuzzling gently against Will's head.

Will wiped his eyes and again and sniffled. He sat up a bit, Sonny's arm still around his shoulder, and looked at Sonny. "Thank you." he said softly, looking into Sonny's eyes. "Thank you for coming here."

"You're welcome. But, why didn't you tell me? Why have you been avoiding me?"

"I just didn't want to bother you with all this. You have your own things going on with school and the house and... well, Ryan."

"Will, I will always have time for you." Sonny assured him, connecting with his blue tear stained eyes. His voice was quiet and intimate. "You're my best friend."

"Am I though, Sonny? Is that what this is?" Will asked, matching Sonny's soft tone.

Sonny looked at him with confusion, unsure of the Will's question and equally uncertain of his answer. "Will, I…"

"Don't…" Will interrupted, searching Sonny's eyes for his answer. "Don't say anything." Will cupped Sonny's face in his hand and leaned in, pressing his lips against Sonny's in a soft but passionate kiss. He released Sonny's lips and looked at him, waiting for his reaction. Sonny just smiled back at him with affection; the confusion in his eyes was gone for the moment. He lightly ran his fingers through the back of Will's hair and guided his head back onto his shoulder, leaning his head against his again. They sat quietly together on the curb in the parking lot outside the courthouse as the night filled in around them.

* * *

Abigail pulled the car into Sonny's driveway, waving to Ryan as he was putting a couple folding chairs into the back of his SUV. "He's cute, isn't he?" She commented, putting the car into park and shutting off the engine.

"He's alright." Will said dismissively, getting out the backseat. "I'm going to get the ice for the cooler."

"What's with him?" she asked Lisa.

"Don't ask." Lisa got out of the car and said hello to Ryan. "Where's Sonny?"

"He's inside finishing packing his stuff. I just got here a couple minutes ago and he wasn't ready yet." Ryan told her. "Hey, Will." He called out as Will walked right past him heading into the house. Will waved hello over his head, but didn't turn around.

Will walked into the house and to Sonny's bedroom. He leaned against the door unnoticed and smiled, watching Sonny from behind. Sonny put the last of his clothes in his backpack and zipped it. He stood up and turned around, startled by Will standing in his doorway. "Hey." Will said.

"Hey, I didn't hear you come in." Sonny replied, smiling back bashfully. They hadn't talked about the other day at the courthouse yet and he wasn't sure how to bring it up.

"I was just getting ice for the cooler."

"Yeah, I keep that in the freezer not the bedroom." Sonny teased him.

"Thanks, smart ass." Will stepped toward him, "Look, Sonny, about the other night when I kissed you. I just wanted to say…"

Will was interrupted by a knock at the front door, "Sonny? Sonny, are you in there?" Adrienne called into the house. "Sonny, it's mom."

He looked at Will and grinned, "Sorry, I should probably…" he motioned toward the door and slid by Will. "Mom?" he said walking into the living room, "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, sweetie." She said kissing him on the cheek as Will walked out of the bedroom behind Sonny.

"I'm going to get that ice." Will told him "Nice to see you, Mrs. Kiriakis." He headed to the kitchen, leaving Sonny and his mom alone.

"Sorry, are you busy? I can come back later." Adrienne told him.

"No, that's okay. We're just getting ready to go up to the lake for the night." he said. "What's up, mom?"

"Nothing's up. I just came by to see how you were doing and make sure you were okay, you know, because of today."

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be? What's so important about today?"

"You really don't remember?" she asked curiously. "Well maybe I shouldn't day anything then."

Sonny was confused as to why she was acting so strange and what was such a big deal about this particular day. "Can you stop being weird and just tell me what you're talking about, please?"

"Sonny, what day is it."

"The 13th, why?"

"The 13th of what, Sweetie?"

"The 13th of October…" A look of sudden realization came over Sonny's face as it hit him. He sat down on the edge of the table is a state of disbelief that he did not remember. "I… I completely forgot." he said stunned, "How could I forget?" he asked her. "How could I do that?" His voice trembled as his emotions got the better of him.

"Oh, Sonny." Adrienne said, rushing over to hug him. "It's okay, sweetie. This is good, it really is. It means you're moving on. This a good thing, I promise you."

"But I forgot him, Mom. It's only five years ago today, and I forgot."

"Sonny, you did not forget James. You're just living your life, that's what is supposed to happen. People heal, they move on. You did nothing wrong."

"I still think about him." Sonny told her, "I miss him."

"I know, sweetheart." She hugged him tighter. "I know."

"Are you ready to go?" Ryan called out as he opened the front door.

Sonny turned to avoid being seen by Ryan and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Yep, ready." he said.

Will stood behind the wall in the kitchen holding the bags of ice, listening to their conversation. He heard the front door open and Ryan's voice then quickly made his way out the back.

* * *

Sonny sat quietly, unmoving, staring into the fire while his friends laughed and talked around him, but all he heard was white noise in the air. His memories danced on the flames in front of him as he replayed that day five years ago in his head. He was completely oblivious to Ryan sitting on a blanket on the ground in front of his chair, or to what was going on around him, or to Will who sat across from him. Will watched him carefully with concern; he had not taken his eyes off of him since Sonny sat down.

Ryan nudged Sonny again, finally getting his attention. "Are you alright?" he asked, "You haven't said a word all afternoon."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just watching the fire."

"Why don't you come down here with me? It's nice and warm."

Sonny shook his head and stood up, "Nah, I think I'm going to take a walk, get some air."

"Good Idea. I'll come with you." Ryan stood up and brushed off his jeans.

"No, it's fine. You stay here." Sonny told him, "I'll be back."

"Um…okay." Ryan watched as Sonny walked down to the edge of the lake and sat down on a rock. He was about to go after him to make sure Sonny was really okay when he noticed Will get up and head down to where Sonny sat. Ryan sat down in the chair Sonny was just in and let out a heavy sigh, looking on as Will sat down next to Sonny. He turned to Lisa, sitting next to him. "Can I ask you a question, Lisa."

"Shoot, cutie." She replied.

"Do I need to be worried about that?" he pointed to Will and Sonny.

Lisa looked over to them down by the lake. "Have you asked Sonny?"

"He says that they're just friends, but I don't know…"

"Well if Sonny says Will is just a friend then that's your answer."

"Yeah, I guess." Ryan agreed.

"Besides," Lisa added, "Haven't you ever stayed friends with someone you slept with?"

"Wait, what? Sonny slept with Will?"

"You didn't know that?" Lisa asked, seeing the hurt come over Ryan's face. "Oh no, you didn't know that." Lisa put her hand over her mouth in shame. "See, this is why people don't tell me stuff."

Sonny sat down on a rock and stared out into the lake trying to clear his mind. He heard someone coming up behind him, "Ryan, I asked you to stay there."

"It's not Ryan, it's me." Will said.

Sonny, turned around, "Oh, sorry." He turned back to the lake. "Go away, I want to be alone."

"No. I'm not going anywhere." Will sat down on the rock next to Sonny.

He let out a frustrated breath as Will sat down. "What do you want, Will? Are you going to kiss me again and confuse me some more? Because, I don't think I can handle that right now."

"I'm not going to kiss you."

"Then what do you want."

"I heard you today." Will said gently, "When you were talking with your mom. I heard you." Will put his arm around his shoulder, "Sonny, talk to me. You were there for me the other day. Let me do the same for you."

Sonny dropped his head in his hands trying to fight off the tears welling up again. He sat silent for minutes until his emotions would let him speak. "When I was junior in high school, our neighbors took in an exchange student for the year. He was from New Zealand. His name was James Neeson…and I loved him." He started crying as he spoke about James.

Will held him tight. "What happened five years ago, Sonny?"

Sonny sniffled and wiped his eyes. "James and I were inseparable that entire year he was here. We did everything together. We were in love." Sonny sat up and turned toward Will. "He was my first love, the first person that ever really understood me, my first real kiss, he was my first…everything." He blushed as he told him. "James came from money so he had travelled all around the world. I would listen to him for hours talking about all the places he had been…I was so jealous." Sonny shook his head and smiled at the memory, "He was a year ahead of me in school… he said when I graduated he wanted to show me all the places he'd seen. We were going to travel the world, together. He was perfect, Will. He was cute, funny, confident… He was perfect, or so I thought."

Will's heart wrenched at the magnitude of emotions expressed on Sonny's face. He finally realized that he wasn't the only one fighting personal demons. He listened intently as Sonny continued.

"As much as I loved him, there was one thing about him that I couldn't get past. His family had no idea he was gay. Over here he could be who he was, at home he said he had to be who his parents thought he was and I had to be his friend, his straight friend." A look of shame came over his face. "I told him I wouldn't be a part of lie. If he loved me as much as he said he did, he would tell his parents the truth about himself. I pushed him into it. He told me his parents wouldn't understand, I should have listened to him. I pushed him..." Sonny buried his face in his hands and stated to cry again "…it was my fault."

"What was, Sonny? What was your fault?"

"He had been home for a few months, school was over for him." Sonny's voice was low and distant, as if disconnected from his body. "We talked on the phone, messaged each other… the night he was going to tell them he was really nervous, he kept texting me… I told him they would understand, that they loved him…" his breathing got heavier as he talked "…that night, after… he called me and he was so scared…" Sonny closed his eyes and shook his head. "I answered the phone and I didn't even say hello, I just said 'How'd it go?'. James was quiet, he told me it went bad, 'really bad' he said." Sonny wiped away his tears again, but new ones kept coming. "I told him it would be okay, I promised him. He didn't believe me, he said it wouldn't… then he was silent for what seemed like forever… then he said he said he was sorry, so sorry, I didn't recognize his voice, it was different somehow… then he was quiet again" Sonny stopped crying and got very still. "…and then I heard it."

Will's heart raced with panic as Sonny's face turned white and emotionless. "Heard what Sonny? What did you hear?"

Sonny looked up to Will through the pain in his eyes. "The gunshot."

…_to be continued…_


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey All. Well, here we go! I hope you think it was worth the wait. Thanks again to everyone who comments! I didn't get a chance to thank everyone individually last time around, sorry about that. Hope you enjoy this one. I'm going to take a short break from this story and finish the next chapter of my other one, but this will continue. There's much more in store for WilSon. Cheers! RTR!**

* * *

Will's heart raced with panic as Sonny's face turned white and emotionless. "Heard what Sonny? What did you hear?"

Sonny looked up to Will through the pain in his eyes. "The gunshot."

"Jesus." Will gasped through his own tears. He pulled Sonny close to him and hugged him as tight as he could as Sonny began sobbing into his shoulder. "You listen to me, Sonny. That was not your fault. You didn't know he would do that." Will told him adamantly, "That was his choice. There was nothing you could do. It was not your fault, do you hear me?" Will held Sonny close as years of pent up emotion poured out of him until he stopped crying.

Sonny took and deep calming breath and sat up, wiping his eyes. "I'm sorry I got so upset, I haven't talked about that in a long time."

"You don't ever have to apologize to me, Sonny. But please, tell me you know that James's death was not your fault."

"I do…" He reassured him, taking another deep breath. "…I know that now. I just freaked out because I forgot about him today. I've never done that before."

"Sonny, I think your mom might be right. People heal, they move on. You didn't forget about James, you just forgot a date, that's all."

"I thought I was past it, but I guess you never really get past something like that. You just learn to deal with it." Sonny crossed his legs under him and turned to face Will, wiping the remaining tears from his face. "You know, after it happened, I was just…devastated. I didn't get out of bed for days, didn't eat, dropped all kinds of weight. I was completely lost… for a long time. But then my parents made me go see a therapist."

Will sat up and leaned back on his hands as Sonny talked. "And did that help?" he asked.

"Yeah, It did. She made me realize that it wasn't my fault, and helped me figure out what I needed to do to get closure."

"Closure?"

"She told me I needed to say goodbye to James so that I could get on with my life."

"Did you?" Will asked, "Did you say goodbye?"

"I thought I did, but after today, I don't know." Sonny started "After about nine months of therapy, I figured that the best way to sort of… you know… honor James's memory was to have him keep his promise to me. So, I decided to go to all the places he said that wanted to take me and see all the things he talked about…"

"And getting a tattoo of each country," Will asked, "was that James's idea too?"

"No, that was me. They're a checklist of sorts…a reminder of each place…of chances lost and promises kept. So…no, those are just for me." Sonny's face got distant and wistful as the memories of late night conversations with James about far off lands came back to his mind. He sat silently for several minutes while Will looked on then continued. "Anyway, where was I?"

"You went to the places James wanted you to see." Will reminded him.

"Yeah. So, it was supposed to be this three month trip, with like a week in each place, but, it ended up being four years. I would end up somewhere... Rome, Dublin, London… and just not want to leave, you know? The people, the culture and art…" He smiled again softly at Will. "But, then the more places I went and the longer I was gone, it became less about saying goodbye to James and more about finding myself again, about becoming the person I am now." Sonny looked to Will for understanding. "Do you know what I mean?"

Will nodded and listened intently as Sonny talked about his travels, envious and saddened all at once.

"…and lastly, after almost four years I ended up in New Zealand."

"Where James is from, right?" Will added. "Sorry, was from."

Sonny nodded. "I went to his grave…and said goodbye." Sonny said, looked to Will pensively. "And then I came home."

"Did you get to talk to his parents?"

"No, not really. They were kind enough to tell me where he was buried, but that's about it, they didn't really want to talk to me. I don't know, I think they were still looking for someone to blame."

Will saw pain return to Sonny's eyes as he finished, "You still blame yourself, don't you?" he asked.

"Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes I think if I knew earlier, or if I didn't push him to come out to his parents… that I could have saved him." Sonny confessed, ashamed at the thought. "I've been thinking about it a lot more lately."

"Why, Sonny? You know it wasn't your fault."

"I know, but…" Sonny looked over to Will again. "James used to get this look on his face when he thought no one was looking." he explained, "I don't really know how to explain it, it was like…regret, pain but with…innocence."

Will looked back confusingly to Sonny.

"Anyway, I never really thought about it much or knew what it meant until after James died. But recently I noticed the same sort of look on a friend of mine."

"When? Who?" Will asked.

"A couple months ago. That night at the bar…" Sonny said to him cautiously, connecting with Will's confused eyes, "… when I first saw you."

"Me?" Will was taken by surprise by Sonny's confession. "Sonny, I would never…"

"Everything alright here?" Ryan interrupted, suddenly standing next to them.

* * *

Ryan watched as Sonny walked down to the edge of the lake and sat down on a rock. He was about to go after him to make sure Sonny was alright when he noticed Will get up and head down to where Sonny sat. Ryan sat down in the chair Sonny was just in and let out a heavy sigh, looking on as Will sat down next to Sonny. He turned to Lisa, sitting next to him. "Can I ask you a question, Lisa?"

"Shoot, cutie." She replied.

"Do I need to be worried about that?" he pointed to Will and Sonny.

Lisa looked over to them down by the lake. "Have you asked Sonny?"

"He says that they're just friends, but I don't know…"

"Well if Sonny says Will is just a friend then that's your answer."

"Yeah, I guess." Ryan agreed.

"Besides," Lisa added, "Haven't you ever stayed friends with someone you slept with?"

"Wait, what? Sonny slept with Will?"

"You didn't know that?" Lisa asked, seeing the hurt come over Ryan's face. "Oh no, you didn't know that." Lisa put her hand over her mouth in shame. "See, this is why people don't tell me stuff."

Ryan jumped up out the chair and quickly headed toward the path to the lake, determined to confront them both. He was angry and confused that Sonny had not told him about sleeping with Will and now understood why Will was so unfriendly with him. Will liked Sonny and he was in Will's way. His rounded the curve in the path from the campground to the lake and caught the silhouettes of Sonny and Will in the moonlight off of the lake, embracing each other. He stopped and stepped behind a tree to keep from being seen and watched them, but was too far away to hear them talk. After they let go he saw Sonny wipe his eyes and realized he has been crying. Ryan's anger began to subside, replaced by confusion and concern. He watched some more from behind the tree until it appeared that Sonny had stopped crying then approached them. "Everything alright here?" he asked as he came up next to them.

"Hey, hi…" Sonny stuttered with surprise as Ryan appeared. "Yeah, everything's fine. We were just talking."

Ryan stood next to Sonny and put his hand on his shoulder. "You guys have been down here talking a long time." he said, trying to hide his irritation. His eyes crossly fixed on Will.

"Sorry." Will snapped back mockingly, annoyed by Ryan's glare. "I guess we were just waiting for someone to rudely interrupt us."

"Well it's a good thing I'm here then." Ryan shot back through clenched teeth.

Sonny felt Ryan's hand tense up on his shoulder and the sudden rise of tension in the air between Will and Ryan as they stared heatedly at each other. "Alright, take it easy." He said putting his hands up between the two of them. "Can you guys at least try to get along? Please?"

Ryan looked away first. "Sorry, I was just wondering what was going on down here." He said to Sonny, rubbing the shoulder his hand was on then he turned back to Will. "Sorry, Will."

Will said nothing. He just rolled his eyes slightly and turned away from Ryan.

"There is nothing going on, Ryan. We were just talking." Sonny reassured him. "I had kind of a bad day, and Will was just listening to me vent."

"Again, I'm sorry, Sonny." Ryan said calmly. "Look let's just forget about it. Why don't I go get the tent out of my car and you can come help me set it up? You know… for us." Ryan added the last part for Will's benefit, to remind him who Sonny was there with and smiled inside as out of the corner of his eye he saw Will frowning.

"Actually, I don't think I up for staying overnight anymore." Sonny confessed. "It's been a long day, do you mind if we just go home?"

"Are you sure?" Ryan asked, "I mean the tent won't take long to set up."

"He said he wants to go home." Will butt in.

"Will!" Sonny snapped at him, trying to again stop the tension between the two of them. He stood up and ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. "Ryan, I'm sure. Do you mind?"

Ryan shook his head, "No, if that's what you want."

"Thanks. I'm going to go say goodbye to everybody then we can go. Okay?" he said to Ryan. Ryan nodded back as Sonny started up the path back to the campsite.

Will jumped up off the rock he and Sonny were sitting on and grabbed Sonny's arm. "Hang on." He said with a worried tone, "We didn't finish our talk, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Sonny assured him, meeting Will's eyes. He stepped forward and hugged Will, his back to Ryan. "Thank you." He whispered tenderly into his ear.

Ryan stood behind them, uncomfortably watching them hug as his resentment grew. Sonny let go of Will and started up the path, leaving Ryan and Will by the lake alone. "I'll be there in a sec." Ryan said to him as Sonny headed up the path. He bore his eyes into Will's back, watching Will watch Sonny walk away. Will started up the path and Ryan stopped him. "Hold up a minute, Will." He called to him.

Will stopped and hung his head in frustration. He turned to face Ryan and crossed his arms. "What do you want?" he asked harshly.

"You don't like me much, do you?"

Will sneered at him arrogantly. "Don't take it personally. I don't like most people." He turned back around and started up the path again.

"Except Sonny?" Ryan spat at him.

Will stopped and turned back to him again, his face angry this time. "What?" he growled.

"I said, except Sonny." Ryan repeated sarcastically, feigning ignorance. "I mean, you like Sonny, don't you Will?"

Will clenched his fists and cocked his neck, stepping toward Ryan. "Do you have something you want to say to me, Ryan?"

Ryan quickly assessed the situation, glaring back at Will's angry eyes, he was taller and stronger than Will and everything in him was telling him to hit him. He was unsure of where he stood in his relationship with Sonny, but he was positive that if he punched his best friend Sonny would not be happy, so he let it go. He'd made his point. "No, Will." He said, shaking his head as if in pity. "We've got nothing to say to each other." He stepped past Will and headed up the path toward Sonny.

* * *

The drive home was awkward and silent. Sonny leaned on his hand and stared blankly out the window the entire time. He has held on to the memory of James for a long time. Even after his travels and visiting James's grave, James was always on his mind, until tonight. Talking about his death again was cathartic for Sonny and he felt as if James was giving him permission to love again. His feelings for Ryan were true and were strong, but his mind kept wandering back to the conversation by the lake and days earlier to a kiss in front of the courthouse. "Hmm?" Sonny asked, shaken from his thoughts.

"I said we're here." Ryan said softly, as they pulled into Sonny's driveway. He turned the car off and got out, following Sonny up the steps.

Sonny fumbled with the keys in the lock, opened the door and slowly walked in. He tossed his keys into the bowl on the table by the door, and turned back to Ryan silently standing in the doorway. "You coming in?" he asked.

"Do you want me to?" Ryan asked hesitantly.

"Of course I do. Why would ask that?"

Ryan stepped in and closed the door behind him. "Honestly, I'm not so sure what you want Sonny."

"Is something wrong?" Sonny asked him.

"You tell me." Ryan replied. "I haven't talked to you all night. You didn't say a single word the whole way home, you were down at the lake with Will for a while..."

"I told you, Ryan. Today was a bad day for me. Will was just listening to me talk about it."

"I know. But… it's not something you could have talked to me about it?"

Sonny thought about Ryan's question and a sense of realization and sadness started to come over him. He did not feel close enough to Ryan to share James with him. As painful as the answer would be for him, he owed Ryan the truth. "No… it's not." He said remorsefully.

Ryan clenched his teeth and took a deep breath, trying to suppress his emotions. "But, you could talk to Will?"

Sonny sighed at the pain in Ryan's eyes. "Yes…"

"Damn it, Sonny." he complained. "I asked you at the beginning if there was something between you two. I told you how I felt about you. I said I didn't want to get in anybody's way."

"Ryan, I swear. Will and I are just friends." He tried to plead with him.

"Bullshit! I know you slept with him, Sonny. How could you not tell me that?"

Sonny let out a regretful sigh, "I don't know why I didn't tell you…I guess I didn't want you to read too much into it. It was a while ago…we're friends Ryan, that's it."

"Could you just stop? Please?" Ryan said angrily. "I'm not an idiot, Sonny."

"Are you saying that I'm lying to you?"

"No, I'm not saying you're lying to me, Sonny." Ryan answered, "I'm saying you're lying to yourself."

"Ryan…" he argued, shaking his head in denial.

"Sonny, look at me." He said adamantly, stepping forward until standing right in front of Sonny. "Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong. Can you honestly say that you don't have feelings for Will?"

Sonny looked at him and saw the last flickering of hope staring back from Ryan's eyes. Hope that this wasn't the end, hope that Sonny would tell him he was wrong, but Sonny couldn't, Ryan was right. He turned his eyes away from Ryan, ashamed of the pain he'd caused.

Ryan let out a heavy defeated breath and wiped his eyes. "That's what I thought." He said softly and walked to the door.

"Ryan, wait." Sonny called after him.

Ryan opened the door, his back was to Sonny and his head hung low. He stopped as Sonny spoke, but didn't turn around.

Sonny took a couple steps toward him. "Please believe me. I never wanted to hurt you."

He still didn't turn around, but picked his head up, acknowledging Sonny's words. "Goodbye, Sonny." He said softly and closed the door behind him.

Will could not stop thinking about what Sonny's said. With the flash of headlights from each passing car it echoed in his memory, the look he saw on James's face Sonny also saw on Will's. He saw Ryan come out the front door just as he pulled up to Sonny's.

Ryan closed the color behind him, wiped his eyes again and zipped up his jacket as he saw Will pull up to the curb. "Of course, nice fucking timing." He mumbled to himself. The last thing he wanted right now was to see Will gloat. He tried to walk calmly to his truck but his ire got the best of him as Will got out of the car and headed up the front walk. "He's all yours." Ryan sniped as he passed him.

Will realized from Ryan's comment that he and Sonny had ended it. He could have just let it go, but Will has never been one to let things go. He stopped and turned back to Ryan "He always was." He shot back at him.

His anger boiled over, Ryan had nothing to lose now. He balled his fist, turned quickly and swung, hitting Will hard just above his left eye sending him crashing to the cold hard ground.

* * *

"Just hold this on it, I'll get some ice." Sonny told him, pressing a cool rag to Will's eye. "Does it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts. He hit me in face!" Will blurt out.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Sonny handed him a kitchen towel wrapped around a bag of ice and sat down at the kitchen table in the chair across from him.

"No, it's not your fault. I deserved it." Will put the ice to his eye and grimaced at the cold. "So, is it over then? You and Ryan?"

Sonny shrugged. "It would appear so."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am. I mean, he was nice and we had fun…plus he was really cute…"

"He's alright looking." Will interjected.

"He's hot, just admit it."

Will rolled his eyes and conceded. "Fine, I guess some people might find him attractive."

Sonny shook his head and chuckled at him. "As I was saying… Ryan is a good guy but it was never going to go anywhere. I just didn't have those feelings for him, you know?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Is it because of James?"

"No, it's not because of that." Sonny inched his chair closer, leaned on the table facing Will and smiled at him softly. "Ryan just wasn't the one I want to be with."

"Is there someone that you do want to be with?"

Sonny laid his hand on the table, reaching for him. "Come on, Will. You know the answer to that."

A small shy smile crossed Will's lips as he looked back at Sonny. He reached over and put his hand on Sonny's cautiously as his face turned uncomfortable. "Did you sleep with him?" he asked, knowing it wasn't his business.

Sonny shook his head, "No… I didn't." he reassured him. Sonny put his other hand on top of Will's. "Will, why did you kiss me?"

Will's eyes got wide and full and bright as he looked back to Sonny and squeezed his hand. The answer to Sonny's question was written in those blue eyes and on his smile, Will never said a word.

"Why didn't you ever tell me, Will?" Sonny wondered aloud.

"I tried…so many times..." Will told him, "…but things just kept getting in the way, first my mom and Cole and then Ryan…and me."

"You?" he asked.

"Sonny, in case you haven't noticed, I don't have the best track record with relationships..." Will sat back a bit in his chair, his face turned reticent. "…I guess I'm scared."

"Of what, Will?"

Will's eyes got heavy as he spoke. "Everybody in my life I care about has left me, Sonny. I can't lose you."

Sonny saw the fear on Will's face as water dripped from the ice down his cheek. "Come here," he said gently, taking the ice from Will's eye. "Let me take a look at it." He leaned over and examined the cut on Will's eye. "The swellings gone down." He told him.

"Do I need stitches?"

"No, I don't think so. It's cut pretty good, but I have a butterfly bandage. That should work." Sonny stood up and gently rubbed Will's cheek under the cut. "I'll be right back." He said and walked into the bedroom, returning a minute later with a first aid kit. He pulled his chair out from the table and placed it right in front of Will. He sat down and put the first aid kit on the table and opened it up, pulling out an antibacterial pad. "This may sting a little." He told him then tenderly cleaned the cut next to Will's eye.

Will sat silently, his eyes fixed on Sonny's face as he bandaged his eye.

Sonny took a bandage from the kit and peeled of the backing, "Will, I'm not going to make excuses for the people who've hurt you or try to justify what they did. We all have problems. We all have a past." Sonny's fingers lightly brushed against Will's skin as he placed the bandage on Will's eye. "But, you can't live in the past, Will. Believe me when I say that, I've tried." Sonny closed the first aid kit and looked to Will. "You have to let people in, you have to let yourself trust people. You have to trust me, Will. Trust that I won't leave."

"I do trust you, you're the only one I trust. But I'm afraid, Sonny." Will said, taking Sonny's hands in his. "Today you said you saw a look on my face that you used to see on James before he died." Will held Sonny's hands tighter and looked directly into his brown eyes. "You have to know that I am not James, Sonny. Please understand. That is not me, I would never do that. I don't want you to be with me because you feel a responsibility for what happened to James." He took Sonny's face in his hands, "Look at me." he said, peering deep into his eyes "You don't need to save me, Sonny."

Sonny's voice quivered and a tear escaped his eye as he looked back to Will. "Maybe it's not you I'm trying to save."

Will pressed his forehead against Sonny's and wrapped his hands around his neck, holding him tight. All the fear and shame and self loathing that had been with him for most of his life was unexpectedly gone and replaced with a feeling he had never experienced, he felt needed.

Sonny wiped his eyes and stood up. "I'm going to put this up." He said, picked up the first aid kit, and walked into the bedroom. He put the kit back in the cabinet in the bathroom and shut the light off, stepping out of the door to see Will, standing in the doorway of the quiet bedroom. He moved to the middle of the room and smiled at him tenderly, suddenly felling calm, solely from Will's presence.

Will met him in the center and took his hands in his again, returning his smile. "I've been waiting a long time for this." He said.

Sonny snickered playfully. "For what?"

Will pulled Sonny's hands to his lips and kissed them. "You still owe me a dance."

"There's no music." he told him and rested his head on Will's shoulder as he pulled him in close.

"I don't need music." Will wrapped his arm around him and rested his cheek against Sonny's. "I just need you." He held Sonny close and swayed to the rhythmic silence in the shadows and moonlight. Will lifted his head and their eyes once more. He smiled again. A smile of satisfaction that things were finally where they belonged, then Sonny kissed him.

Sonny kissed him softly at first, lovingly. Then kissed him again, harder and hungrier. Will groaned as Sonny's tongue darted in and out of his mouth. They stopped kissing long enough for Sonny to remove their shirts, first Will's then his, while Will's worked on their pants. Their lips connected again in a flurry of kisses, drenched in desire and longing. They fell onto the bed, their bodies glistening from the beginning of sweat, and swayed and danced some more in the nights glow, Sonny lying over Will, two shadows becoming one.


End file.
